Light Therapy

Photobiomodulation, Frequency & InLight Therapy

At Therapeutic Love, one of the technologies we use is InLight Therapy, a form of photobiomodulation using LED light placed directly on the body.

Photobiomodulation sounds complicated.

It really isn't.

Photo means light.
Bio means life.
Modulation means creating a change.

We're using light to communicate with biology.

That's the foundation.

But when we start looking deeper, light therapy becomes really interesting because we're not simply talking about shining a red light on somebody.

We're talking about energy.

We're talking about circulation.

We're talking about mitochondria.

We're talking about the way cells communicate.

We're talking about nitric oxide.

We're talking about different wavelengths penetrating the body differently.

And with InLight, we're also working with the rhythm of the light through pulsing frequencies.

This is why I see light therapy as another piece of the larger Therapeutic Love approach.

We're not trying to force the body to heal.

We're trying to create a better environment for the body to do what it already knows how to do.

Human beings have always lived in relationship with light.

Long before artificial lighting, computer screens or modern medicine, our biology was responding to sunrise, daylight, sunset and darkness.

Light helps tell the brain when to wake up.

Darkness helps tell it when to sleep.

Light influences circadian rhythm, hormones, alertness and many other biological processes.

So the idea that light can influence biology isn't strange at all.

It already does.

Photobiomodulation simply asks another question:

What happens when we intentionally deliver particular wavelengths of light directly to the body?

That question has now been studied for decades.

And we're learning that certain wavelengths can interact with cells in ways that influence cellular energy, signaling, circulation and recovery.

To understand light therapy, we first need to understand something very basic.

Your body requires energy to do everything.

Your heart needs energy to beat.

Your brain needs energy to think.

Muscles need energy to contract.

Cells need energy to repair themselves.

Your immune system needs energy.

Even relaxation requires biological energy.

Inside most of our cells are structures called mitochondria.

You've probably heard them called the powerhouses of the cell.

I like calling them the little power plants inside us.

They take the resources available to the body and help turn them into usable cellular energy.

That usable energy is called ATP.

You don't need to remember the name.

Think of ATP like biological currency.

If the body wants to accomplish something, it has to spend energy.

Repair costs energy.

Movement costs energy.

Detoxification costs energy.

Nervous-system regulation costs energy.

Building new tissue costs energy.

Everything has a biological price tag.

This is one reason mitochondrial health has become such an important part of wellness research.

Certain molecules inside our cells can interact with light.

Red and near-infrared wavelengths are particularly interesting because they can penetrate biological tissue and interact with cellular processes.

The idea isn't that we're filling somebody up with energy like plugging a phone into the wall.

Biology is much more complicated than that.

A better way to think about it is:

We're giving the cell another signal and another resource.

The cell then decides what to do with it.

That distinction is important to me.

The machine isn't healing you.

The light isn't healing you.

Your body is responding to the environment we're creating.

That's a completely different philosophy.

Visible light is only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

What we experience as different colors are actually different wavelengths.

Blue light has one wavelength range.

Green has another.

Red has another.

Then we move beyond what our eyes can see into near-infrared light.

You can't necessarily see near-infrared light, but that doesn't mean your tissue can't interact with it.

One of the important differences between wavelengths is how deeply they can travel into tissue and what molecules absorb them.

Generally, visible wavelengths are absorbed more superficially.

Red can penetrate farther.

Near-infrared can reach deeper into tissue.

That makes wavelength selection important depending on what area we're trying to support.

One reason I like the InLight system is the way the light is delivered.

Instead of standing several feet away from a large light panel, flexible LED pads are placed directly against the body.

That gives us the ability to work with particular areas.

We might work around the head.

The neck.

The jaw.

The ears.

The back.

The abdomen.

The thymus area.

The thyroid region.

Lymphatic areas.

Or other places depending on what we're trying to support.

Different InLight pads incorporate different combinations of visible and near-infrared LEDs. InLight describes its systems as using multiple wavelengths delivered through flexible pads placed against the body.

This gives us another level of flexibility.

Instead of saying,

"Red light is good."

We can start asking:

What wavelength are we using?

Where are we putting it?

How long are we using it?

What pulse pattern are we using?

And what else are we doing with the body at the same time?

Now we're thinking in terms of a system rather than a gadget.

This is where light therapy connects with so much of the other work we do at Therapeutic Love.

Blood is the transportation system.

It carries oxygen.

It carries nutrients.

It carries hormones.

It helps move metabolic waste.

You can have an incredible amount of oxygen available in the lungs, but ultimately we still need circulation to transport resources where they're needed.

This is one reason we're constantly talking about microcirculation.

Microcirculation is what happens in the tiny blood vessels feeding our tissues.

When we improve the environment around those tissues, we're helping create better conditions for exchange.

InLight's stated indications include temporarily increasing local blood circulation, along with temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain, stiffness and muscle spasms.

This is also where light begins connecting with another molecule we talk about constantly:

nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide helps blood vessels communicate and change their diameter.

In simple terms, it plays a role in helping vessels relax and open.

That's important because opening blood vessels can influence circulation.

Photobiomodulation research has explored relationships between light, mitochondrial activity and nitric-oxide signaling.

Again, we don't need to turn this into a chemistry class.

The simple version is:

Light can influence cellular chemistry.
Cellular chemistry can influence circulation.
Circulation influences the environment surrounding our cells.

Now we're starting to connect the dots.

This is one of the biggest ideas behind Therapeutic Love.

Modern medicine often teaches us to think about the body chemically.

And chemistry is incredibly important.

But we're also electrical.

We're mechanical.

We're thermal.

We're responsive to pressure.

We're responsive to oxygen and carbon dioxide.

We're responsive to sound.

We're responsive to light.

We're responsive to rhythm.

We're responsive to our environment.

All of these systems are happening together.

That's why I don't think it makes sense to isolate everything.

The nervous system affects circulation.

Circulation affects oxygen delivery.

Oxygen delivery affects cellular metabolism.

Cellular metabolism affects energy.

Energy affects the body's ability to regulate and repair.

Everything talks to everything.

This is where InLight becomes especially interesting.

Light doesn't necessarily have to stay continuously on.

It can be pulsed.

Imagine a flashlight.

We could turn it on and leave it on:

ON————————

Or we could flash it:

ON — OFF — ON — OFF — ON — OFF

If we start flashing it at an exact rate, we've created a frequency.

Frequency simply means how many times something happens each second.

One time per second is:

1 Hertz — 1 Hz

Ten times per second:

10 Hz

One hundred times per second:

100 Hz

So frequency doesn't need to be mystical.

It's simply rhythm.

Your body is already filled with rhythms.

Heartbeat.

Breathing.

Brain activity.

Sleep cycles.

Hormonal cycles.

Muscle firing.

Nerve impulses.

Life is rhythmic.

This is an important distinction.

When we're talking about light therapy, the word frequency can become confusing.

The light itself has an electromagnetic wavelength.

But we can also pulse the LED on and off at a particular rate.

Those are two different things.

Think about music.

A guitar string creates a particular note.

But I can play that note slowly:

strum... strum... strum...

Or quickly:

strum-strum-strum-strum.

Same instrument.

Same note.

Different rhythm.

With pulsed light, we're doing something similar.

The wavelength tells us what type of light we're using.

The pulse frequency tells us the rhythm in which we're delivering it.

InLight uses what it calls Progressive Multi-Pulse™ technology.

Rather than only delivering continuous light, its controllers can use programmed pulsing patterns and sequences. InLight offers different controllers and programs depending on the system.

This opens up another area of exploration.

We're no longer only asking:

What happens when tissue receives light?

We're also asking:

Does the pattern in which that light arrives matter?

That's a fascinating question.

And research into pulsed photobiomodulation continues to explore it.

One group of frequencies that comes into this conversation is associated with Dr. Paul Nogier, a French physician known for developing auricular medicine.

Auricular medicine works with the idea that different areas of the ear can be used as points of stimulation relating to other areas of the body.

Nogier's work eventually became associated with a series of repeating frequencies that have been used in different forms of frequency-based therapy.

When we use a Nogier frequency with light, we're not necessarily adding some mysterious substance to the light.

We're changing the pulse rate.

The LED turns on and off according to that rhythm.

I like thinking of it this way:

The light is the carrier.

The pulse is the rhythm.

And the body receives both.

This is where we need to separate established science from interesting possibilities.

Pulsed photobiomodulation is real and is being researched.

What is much less established is the claim that one exact Nogier frequency will reliably affect one exact organ or produce one predictable medical outcome.

That's a different level of claim.

At Therapeutic Love, I don't think we need to exaggerate something to make it interesting.

The truth is interesting enough.

We know biological systems respond to rhythm.

We know neurons communicate rhythmically.

We know the heart has rhythm.

We know breathing has rhythm.

We know brain activity has measurable frequency patterns.

We know light can be pulsed.

And researchers continue asking whether different pulse patterns produce different biological responses.

That's where I like staying curious.

Then we have another family of frequencies that many people recognize:

Solfeggio frequencies.

Common examples include:

396 Hz
417 Hz
528 Hz
639 Hz
741 Hz
852 Hz

Solfeggio frequencies are commonly used today in meditation, music, sound healing and spiritual practices.

You'll often see very specific claims attached to them.

528 Hz is sometimes called the "love frequency."

Others are associated with emotional release, connection, transformation or spiritual awareness.

I think this is another area where curiosity needs to meet honesty.

There is not strong clinical evidence demonstrating that each Solfeggio number produces the specific healing effect often advertised online.

For example, saying:

"528 Hz repairs your DNA"

goes much further than the current evidence allows.

But there's another question that I think is much more interesting:

Can rhythm itself influence biological state?

Absolutely.

We already know it can.

Music can change our emotional state.

Breathing rhythm can change nervous-system activity.

Slow breathing can influence heart-rate variability.

Sound can influence attention and relaxation.

Light affects circadian biology.

So investigating combinations of light + rhythm + nervous-system state makes sense.

We just don't need to pretend every question has already been answered.

This is where my personal framework comes into the conversation.

I think of the human body as constantly receiving information.

Temperature is information.

Pressure is information.

Light is information.

Sound is information.

Breathing is information.

Movement is information.

CO₂ is information.

Oxygen is information.

Touch is information.

The nervous system is constantly reading the environment and deciding:

What do I need to do right now?

Protect?

Mobilize?

Rest?

Digest?

Repair?

Connect?

Sleep?

This is why I like using frequency as another layer within light therapy.

Not because I believe we've discovered a magical number for every disease.

But because biology responds to patterns.

This is where light therapy begins connecting with the bigger Therapeutic Love philosophy.

Healing isn't simply about giving the body more things.

Sometimes it's about helping the body get into a state where it can actually use the resources already available.

If someone is constantly in fight-or-flight, their biology is receiving a very different message than when they feel safe, relaxed and connected.

That's why our work often combines technologies with practices designed to help someone downshift.

Breathing.

Meditation.

Heart coherence.

Movement.

Sound.

Touch.

Hyperbaric oxygen.

CO₂ work.

PEMF.

And photobiomodulation.

We're approaching the same human being from different directions.

Some of our InLight work involves areas around the head, neck, ears, jaw and occipital region.

Those areas are interesting because there's a tremendous amount happening there.

Blood vessels.

Muscles.

Nerves.

Lymphatic structures.

Sensory systems.

The brain.

And important pathways associated with autonomic regulation.

We're not saying that placing a light over someone's neck magically "resets the vagus nerve."

That's too simplistic.

When I consider pad placement, I also think about the muscles and sensory pathways around an area, not just the spot that hurts. The jaw, neck, and shoulders send movement and position information back to the nervous system. Whether placing a pad along these regions changes that feedback or improves a particular symptom is a question to investigate, not a proven neurological placement protocol. Light parameters and safe placement still matter more than an assumed frequency-to-organ map.

What we're doing is supporting tissues and creating sensory input in an area heavily involved in nervous-system communication.

Then we combine that with other regulation practices.

That's the difference between chasing a symptom and creating an environment.

This is where everything starts coming together.

We may begin with movement and breathing.

Get the body moving.

Open the diaphragm.

Move the spine.

Relax the shoulders.

Start changing state.

We can work with PEMF/BEMER to support microcirculation.

Then we can bring in InLight photobiomodulation to introduce targeted wavelengths and pulsed light.

We may work with the head.

Eyes.

Neck.

Jaw.

Thymus region.

Back.

Lymphatic areas.

Or other areas depending on what we're trying to accomplish.

We can combine that with meditation or heart coherence.

Then we may move into hyperbaric oxygen therapy, increasing the amount of oxygen available in the system.

And afterward we can work with CO₂ tolerance and controlled breathing, helping us explore oxygen delivery and the relationship between oxygen and carbon dioxide.

None of these pieces exists by itself.

That's the point.

Imagine trying to grow a plant.

You could spend all day yelling at the plant:

Grow!

Nothing happens.

Instead, you change the environment.

Give it sunlight.

Give it water.

Give it minerals.

Give it good soil.

Give it the correct temperature.

Then something remarkable happens.

The plant grows itself.

That's how I look at the human body.

We're not commanding the body to heal.

We're asking:

What resources might be missing?

What environment are we creating?

What signals is the nervous system receiving?

Does the tissue have circulation?

Does it have oxygen?

Does it have cellular energy?

Does the person feel safe enough to come out of defense?

Light is one piece of that environment.

Now let's go one layer deeper for anyone who wants the science.

One of the major areas studied in photobiomodulation involves the mitochondria.

A mitochondrial enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase has been proposed as an important light-responsive target, particularly for red and near-infrared wavelengths.

The theory is that absorbed photons can influence mitochondrial and cellular signaling.

Researchers have investigated downstream changes involving:

ATP and cellular energy

nitric-oxide signaling

oxidative signaling

blood flow

inflammatory signaling

cell survival and repair pathways

But PBM isn't completely solved science.

Researchers continue debating exactly which light-sensitive molecules and mechanisms are most important, and the answer may depend on wavelength, dose, tissue and biological condition.

That's science.

You don't need to know everything before you can observe an effect.

You keep measuring.

You keep questioning.

You keep learning.

This is another important part of photobiomodulation.

If some light can be beneficial, that doesn't automatically mean twice as much is twice as beneficial.

Biology doesn't always work that way.

PBM research describes what's called a biphasic dose response.

In normal language:

Too little may not do much.

The right amount may produce a useful response.

Too much may reduce that benefit.

That's why wavelength, intensity, distance, placement and treatment time all matter.

We're not trying to blast the body with as much energy as possible.

We're trying to communicate with biology.

This might be the most important part of the entire conversation.

InLight isn't the healer.

HBOT isn't the healer.

PEMF isn't the healer.

CO₂ isn't the healer.

Breathwork isn't the healer.

The practitioner isn't the healer.

The body is doing the work.

These are tools.

They can provide energy.

They can provide pressure.

They can provide oxygen.

They can influence circulation.

They can provide rhythm.

They can provide information.

They can help change the environment.

But the intelligence that takes those resources and decides what happens next belongs to the biological system itself.

This is ultimately why light therapy fits so naturally into Therapeutic Love.

I don't see the human body as a collection of broken pieces that constantly need to be fixed.

I see an incredibly intelligent biological system responding every second to its environment.

Sometimes that system has spent years receiving signals of stress.

Pain.

Fear.

Inflammation.

Poor sleep.

Poor circulation.

Trauma.

Lack of movement.

Lack of sunlight.

Shallow breathing.

Sympathetic activation.

So instead of asking only:

"What's wrong with you?"

I think a better question is:

"What has your body been responding to?"

And then:

"Can we change that environment?"

That's what we're doing with these technologies.

We're introducing different signals.

Movement.

Breath.

Light.

Frequency.

Circulation.

Oxygen.

CO₂.

Sound.

Meditation.

Connection.

Safety.

And then we watch what happens.

Because the goal isn't to force healing.

The goal is to create an environment where healing has a better opportunity to happen.

Light is energy.

Frequency is rhythm.

The nervous system is listening.

The cells are responding.

And the body already carries an extraordinary amount of intelligence about what to do next.

That is how we approach InLight Therapy at Therapeutic Love.

Not as a magic machine.

Not as a cure.

But as another way of communicating with the biology and supporting the body's own ability to regulate, recover and remember how to work with itself.