The cells in our bodies are not independent units. They do not control their own feeding, elimination, migration, or reproduction; they are controlled by signals from the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surrounds them. This all-encompassing inner ocean unifies all our cells and controls them in a coordinated and integrated fashion. Revealing the stunning implications of the extracellular matrix, Matthew Wood shows how it clearly explains the actions and efficacy of holistic therapies. He explores the ground-breaking research of Alfred Pischinger, who discovered the ECM in 1975, as well as the role of the matrix in transmitting and enacting the genetic code, including the roles of the mitochondria, the nucleus, and ribosomes. He explores how the matrix builds and repairs itself and investigates the complex processes and components involved in the self-healing of wounds and traumas. Wood explains how modern drugs, directed at specific receptors on the cell membrane, interfere with bodily self-regulation. He details how holistic therapies modify the environment of the cell and strengthen the whole, bringing the body back to homeostasis and consequently offering true healing. He sheds new light on how herbs are utilized in the body based on the matrix and discusses the actions of several common herbs in this regard. Wood shows how, even before the discovery of the ECM, many holistic practitioners had already intuited its existence and were acting with advanced understanding of the interconnectedness of the internal cellular terrain. Offering a cutting-edge understanding of the extracellular matrix, Wood reveals the importance of the ECM in treating the whole individual, the basis not only of medical herbalism but of all holistic medicine.