At the end of every Terrain Theory episode, we ask our guests the same question:

What are your non-negotiables, the daily habits you do to tend to your terrain?

In this special year-end episode, we revisit some of the most compelling answers from 2025. Across disciplines and perspectives, our guests reflect on rhythm and circadian health, movement in nature, nutrition and species-appropriate eating, discipline and simplicity, stillness and nervous-system regulation, and the role of joy in maintaining coherence.

Rather than offering a single prescription, these conversations reveal a shared principle: health emerges when we stop forcing the body and start aligning with the rhythms of the natural world.

As we close out the year and look ahead to 2026, this episode invites you to reflect on your own non-negotiables...and what it truly means to live in alignment.

Episodes highlighted:

Episode 178: Dr. Shamini Jain on biofield science, energy pathways, and creativity as a non-negotiable: https://www.terraintheory.net/blogs/podcast/episode-178-dr-shamini-jain-on-biofield-science-energy-pathways-and-creativity-as-a-non-negotiable

Episode 186: Light, Water, and the Quantum Terrain: Circadian Health and Applied Quantum Biology with Nikko Kennedy: https://www.terraintheory.net/blogs/podcast/episode-186-light-water-and-the-quantum-terrain-circadian-health-and-applied-quantum-biology-with-nikko-kennedy

Episode 175: Jon Burras on fascia, Chi, and the New Anatomy: https://www.terraintheory.net/blogs/podcast/episode-175-jon-burras-on-fascia-chi-and-the-new-anatomy

Episode 188: When the “Healthiest Diet” Makes You Sick: Mucus, Natural Hygiene, and Species-Appropriate Eating with Mariah Manazza: https://www.terraintheory.net/blogs/podcast/episode-188-when-the-healthiest-diet-makes-you-sick-mucus-natural-hygiene-and-species-appropriate-eating-with-mariah-manazza

Episode 190: Defying Today’s Diet Wars: Natural Hygiene, Carnivore Counterpoints, and Lifelong Vitality with Mark Huberman: https://www.terraintheory.net/blogs/podcast/ep-190-defying-today-s-diet-wars-natural-hygiene-carnivore-counterpoints-and-lifelong-vitality-with-mark-huberman

Episode 182: Scott Berman on darkness as healer, shedding masks, and the anatomy of a dark retreat: https://www.terraintheory.net/blogs/podcast/episode-182-scott-berman-on-darkness-as-healer-shedding-masks-and-the-anatomy-of-a-dark-retreat

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our recently-launched member platform gives you access to a ton of free & exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at www.terraintheory.net

In this Wellness Check episode of the Terrain Theory Podcast, Ben and Mike sit down with their Primary Healthcare Providers – themselves – for a grounded, honest check-in as 2025 comes to a close and 2026 comes into view.

This conversation spans the deeply personal and the deeply practical.

Ben shares the story of welcoming a new baby through an unexpected, peaceful home birth – an experience that reframes birth not as a medical emergency, but as a natural, intuitive process when fear and intervention are removed. From newborn rhythms and breastfeeding challenges to trust in the body’s ability to self-regulate, the conversation reflects what it looks like to live the philosophy of terrain, not just talk about it.

Mike reflects on the evolution of his own health journey – how habits that once felt radical are now simply life. He opens up about anxiety, career pressure, and the realization that right thinking may matter more than perfect diet or protocols. Together, they explore how stress, rhythm, circadian health, cold exposure, sauna, fasting, and seasonal living all intersect – not as hacks, but as ways of aligning with nature.

The episode also looks forward. Lunar returns, fasting cycles, creative rhythms, aging, concussion awareness, and the responsibility that comes with truly believing the body can heal...all become part of an ongoing inquiry rather than fixed conclusions.

This is not a prescriptive episode. It’s a reflective one. A reminder that health is not something we outsource, optimize once, or solve forever, but something we participate in daily, with curiosity, humility, and presence.

As always, this conversation is for educational purposes only and reflects personal experience. It is not medical advice.

Remember:
You are light.
You are love.
You are your Primary Healthcare Provider.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our recently-launched member platform gives you access to a ton of free & exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Help support Ryan and Briana's road to recovery by donating to our GoFundMe set up in their name. Every penny will go to cover the costs of associated with healing their terrain using alternative, terrain-friendly methods. Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ryan-briana-heal-from-pfas-exposure

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at www.terraintheory.net

Follow Terrain Theory:

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Music by Chris Merenda

After more than three years, Marlon Azurdia returns to the Terrain Theory Podcast...and he brings with him a depth of lived experience that can only come from someone fully committed to walking the path.

A former CrossFit Games athlete who famously competed as a vegan, Marlon has spent the last decade challenging every nutritional and performance assumption placed in front of him. In this episode, he shares how that journey has evolved since we last spoke: from a year as a fruitarian experimenting with the mucusless diet, to a powerful nine-day fast, to the creation and continued refinement of his framework, Phitlosophy: a fusion of movement, mindfulness, and meditation grounded in alchemical principles.

This conversation is part of our ongoing series exploring diet and the human terrain, and the question at its heart: Is there one species-appropriate way of eating for humans?

Or are we meant to tune our bodies like instruments, adjusting the dial as we resonate with different foods, experiences, and levels of consciousness?

Marlon reminds us that diet is more than macros, labels, or ideology. It is information. It is resonance. It is a pathway to inner standing. And when we learn to quiet the noise, break pattern, and return to zero, we may finally be able to hear what our terrain is asking for.

If you’ve ever questioned your own nutritional path, struggled with polarization around diet, or wondered how to integrate body, mind, and spirit through what you consume, this episode offers a perspective both liberating and deeply grounding.

Learn more about Marlon by following him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/marlonazurdiaphitlosophy/

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our recently-launched member platform gives you access to a ton of free & exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Help support Ryan and Briana's road to recovery by donating to our GoFundMe set up in their name. Every penny will go to cover the costs of associated with healing their terrain using alternative, terrain-friendly methods. Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ryan-briana-heal-from-pfas-exposure

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at www.terraintheory.net

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Terrain-Theory

X: https://twitter.com/terraintheory1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@terraintheory

Music by Chris Merenda