The Incas and The Mayans Used Light Therapy

The benefits of light therapy were recognized several thousand years ago.  Along with color and crystals, light and sun energy was used in almost every major culture throughout the world.  Healers in Egypt, Greece, China, India and Persia used them as did the Mayans, Incas, Tibetans, Dowest Chinese, East Indian Ayurvedics and North American Indians. The practice of light therapy dates back to the Greeks when it was known exposure to light, heliotherapy, was beneficial to health.  Today it’s been proven light is beneficial in the production of Vitamin D.

In the 19th century doctors began to explore the therapeutic benefits of previously unknown rays of light and color, such as ultraviolet, to heal diseases.  All forms of light therapy in use today began during the 20th century.  The first reports of ultraviolet blood irradiation date back to the 1930s and in the early nineteen hundreds,  Edgar Cayce gave several readings advocating the use of the Violet Ray machine invented by Nicola Tesla for a heating effect in the body called diathermy. In Europe during the 60s it was noted that certain wavelengths had therapeutic effects on tissues through a process known as photo-stimulation, a common technique used today to treat jaundice in newborns. More recently cancer researchers noted that a single red frequency combined with a topical cream kills certain cancer cells.

There are various forms of light therapy promoted today for alternative healing including light boxes, UV therapy, chromatotherapy , UV blood irradiation and LED therapy.  Red and near infrared light wavelengths are able to pass through tissue up to one inch deep and have beneficial effects on the cells.  LED light arrays are a means to provide these wavelengths.  Conditions known to be helped by LED light therapy include osteoarthritis, burns, fibromyalgia pains, diabetic neuropathy and wound healing to name a few. Today, LED light therapy is an FDA approved cosmetic procedure that is gentle, painless, safe and effective