New York City history teacher Stephanie Edmonds never imagined that her dedication to her students would one day cost her the career she loved. But during COVID, as she watched extended school shutdowns devastate her students’ mental health and academic progress, she began speaking publicly about the harms she was witnessing firsthand. When New York City rolled out vaccine mandates for teachers, Stephanie refused — and was ultimately fired for standing by her convictions.

What began as a personal crisis became the catalyst for a profound transformation.

In this episode, Stephanie shares the inside story of how pandemic politics, teachers’ unions, and bureaucratic pressure kept schools closed far longer than promised — and how those decisions reshaped a generation of children. She also takes us behind the scenes of 15 Days: The Real Story of America’s Pandemic School Closures, the new documentary she helped create that exposes what was really happening behind closed doors.

Today, Stephanie is part of the Lavender Village, a homeschool-based, spiritually grounded learning community in Connecticut, where she teaches, supports families, and helps build a parallel model of education outside the systems that failed so many. Through her work and her platform Teaching Liberty, she’s showing what it looks like to reclaim agency, create community, and live in alignment with deeper principles.

This is a conversation about courage, intuition, educational freedom, and choosing creation over compliance. Stephanie’s story is a powerful reminder that new systems are already emerging — built by the people willing to take the first step.

Learn more about Stephanie at https://www.instagram.com/teachingliberty

Watch the 15 Days documentary at https://www.15daysfilm.com/

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

What if the diet you believe is healing your body is actually holding it hostage?
In this episode, we sit down with Mariah Manazza — once a full-on homesteader living the traditional diet dream — as she reveals how raw milk, pasture-raised meats, and ancestral traditions weren’t enough. In fact, they nearly broke her. Migraines, depression, numbness, leg pain, cysts — all symptoms she was told she’d have for life. Until she asked herself: “What am I really designed to eat?”

Through 12 years of self-experimentation, Mariah discovered the under-told story of mucus-forming foods, the power of instinct over conventional nutrition, the radical simplicity of natural hygiene, and the terrain-centric truth that restored her to full symptom-free living.

We dive into:

• Why some “gold-standard” ancestral foods might suppress healing instead of supporting it
• The overlooked role of mucus in disrupting the terrain and masking underlying disease
• How fruit, fasting, and a return to nature’s laws became Mariah’s doorway to health
• The nine pillars of natural hygiene she applies in everyday living
• Why instinct and internal feedback often trump labs, protocols, and popular dogmas

Whether you’re committed to the traditional diet movement, curious about natural hygiene, or simply seeking a broader perspective on healing — this conversation will invite you to question, reflect, and evolve.

Join us as we explore what “nutrition” means, uncover the common threads across opposing approaches, and discover how going less might actually mean living more.

Learn more about Mariah and her work at https://www.applediaries.com/. Follow her on social at https://www.facebook.com/mariahealthyself/, https://www.instagram.com/mariahealthyself7, and https://www.youtube.com/@Mariahealthyself.

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

Alcohol is the world’s most socially accepted toxin — a substance woven into our rituals, relationships, and celebrations, yet responsible for immeasurable physical, emotional, and societal harm. What happens when we finally confront that truth?

In this episode, we sit down with Professor David Nutt, neuropsychopharmacologist, author, and founder of GABA Labs, to explore alcohol’s hidden toll on the human terrain — from cellular toxicity and neuroinflammation to cultural indoctrination and addiction.

David explains how alcohol damages nearly every system in the body, why our governments and industries continue to protect it, and how his groundbreaking work is offering a path forward. Through Sentia, a functional, non-alcoholic alternative designed to replicate alcohol’s social and relaxing effects without the poison, David and his team are reimagining what it means to connect, unwind, and celebrate — consciously.

We discuss:

• Why alcohol remains the most harmful drug in Western society
• The biological and social mechanisms behind addiction
• How alcohol reshapes the terrain at every level — from the liver to the mind
• The emerging movement toward functional, toxin-free social drinking
• Sentia, GABA Labs, and the future of conscious conviviality

Listen in as we uncover the paradox of the terrain toxin we celebrate — and the promise of a future beyond it.

Learn more about Dave and his work at: https://gabalabs.com.

Learn more about Sentia at http://www.sentiaspirits.com/ and follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sentiaspirits/.

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