The Lost Wisdom of Heliotherapy - by Zaid Dahhaj — Light Environment Organization

There’s no greater way to grasp a more realistic view of certain health subjects than to study them in relation to the past.

Today, you’re told that the sun causes skin cancer.

You’re told that all wavelengths of UV light is inherently harmful.

I call bullshit.

No centralized medical professional can explain why centralized medicine used sunbathing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to heal many conditions, especially the dermatologists and ophthalmologists.

This is the nail in the coffin of their bad ideas.

It’s no secret that modern medicine demonizes the sun, more specifically all UV light wavelengths. Their messaging makes this clear, whether it’s done implicitly or explicitly.

They’ll recommend the use of sunglasses to block UV light.

They’ll recommend UV blocking contact lenses to “improve” eyesight.

They’ll recommend sunscreen which is solely designed to block UV-A and UV-B to “protect” the skin from photoaging and sun damage.

In the case of The Skin Cancer Organization, they will outright tell you to practice sun-avoidance and even go to the extent of saying that there’s no such thing as a safe tan.

If you want a clear example, the picture below illustrates how centralized medicine views UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. They go against their hippocratic oath as physicians by not providing a balanced perspective of sunlight exposure.

I’ve never heard a single practitioner (outside of the wise ones) to mention that UV-A stimulates nitric oxide in the skin which relaxes the blood vessels to promote cardiovascular and systemic health.

Not one mention of the fact that midday UV-B on the skin is the sole driver of Vitamin D3 production through sulfated cholesterol, which makes sunbathing the only worthy way of acquiring Vitamin D3.

Certainly not a single mention of the fact that our cells produce low-frequency light in the UV-C range stimulated by the sheer complexity of the human body’s semiconductive capabilities.

If you doubt my take on their messaging, again you don’t have to look very far.

The typical recommendations of using sunglasses, sunscreen, and contact lenses work against our biology. Saying “there’s no such thing as a safe tan” is utter nonsense with our understanding of melanin.

Recommending sun-avoidance is an affront to Mother Nature, and it directly causes more deaths than you could possibly imagine. You can read more about this below.

Ancient Roots of Heliotherapy

Heliotherapy (sunlight therapy) has ancient roots that can be traced back to many cultures. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, amongst many more, recognized the healing properties of sunlight.

It was systematically practiced by Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine.

Emperor Julian was born in 332 AD. In his writings he reveals his childhood fascination with the sun. The more he thought about the sun, the more he was moved by the majesty, life giving principle and spiritual significance of the "King of the Universe." A few excerpts make his perspective obvious:

Portrait of Emperor Julianus Apostata (Julian the Apostate) on a coin from Antiochië

"The apparent world then, perpetually subsists about the sun; and his light, which surrounds the universe, obtains an eternal seat; so as not to be subject to any variations of place, since it is forever the same. But if anyone is willing to conceive by mere thought alone this eternal nature as temporal, he will easily know respecting the sun, the king of the universe, who immediately illuminates everything with his light, what abundant goods he eternally confers on the world."

The ancient mystics conceived of the existence of three suns which illuminated three different spheres of existence.

The lowest sphere was the physical material sun which unfolded and vitalized all matter. This lowest sun dissipates the darkness and we observe things lighted and we see the surface of these things.

The second sun existed in the realm of soul and dissipates ignorance and nourishes the psychic side of human beings. The second sun is visible to the soul, and enlivens the soul, but invisible to the physical consciousness. In the sphere of the second sun our soul beholds things self-luminous, the true inner-light of all things.

The third sun was referred to as the spiritual or root sun, and was conceived of as the highest Intellectual sun and provides the life-light that nourishes and sustains spirit.

The ancients believed that these three individual suns, constantly provide sustenance within their spheres of body, soul and spirit. Departing from the proximity of these suns and their light, one loses the participation in the fullness of their light.

The Phoenicians "believed the light of the sun is the sincere energy of an intellect perfectly pure; its fountain is not just body, but the sincere energy of intellect, illuminating in its proper habitation the middle region of the heavens: scattering its light, it fills all the celestial orbs with powerful vigor, and illuminates the universe with divine and incorruptible light."

The Danish Nobel Prize Winner

Niels Ryberg Finsen was a Danish physician born in 1860.

He made significant contributions to the field of heliotherapy, earning him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1903. His work is what inspired heliotherapy clinics to spring up across the world.

His work focused on the therapeutic use of sunlight in treating various diseases, with a notable emphasis on lupus vulgaris (tuberculosis that affects the skin).

He hypothesized that certain wavelengths of light, especially ultraviolet (UV light), had bactericidal effects and could help combat the bacteria causing tuberculosis.

Since the 1870s, it was known that ultraviolet light had an inhibiting effect on bacteria. Finsen designed and built a specialized lamp known as the Finsen lamp. This device emitted UV, likely UV-B to penetrate the skin and have a therapeutic effect.

Finsen’s work had positive clinical results, especially in the treatment of lupus vulgaris. In 1896, he established the Finsen Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. It serves as a center for research and treatment, focusing on heliotherapy and using light in medical applications.

Due to Finsen’s work, the modern practice of heliotherapy gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1903, the first heliotherapy clinic for surgical tuberculosis was opened by Dr. A. Rollier at Leysin, Switzerland.

Many other clinics were opened around the time across the globe.

To illustrate how wise practitioners were back in the day, here’s an excerpt from ‘The Advance of Heliotherapy’ by Dr. C. W. Saleeby.

I quote, “Dr. Rollier insists, as ever, upon the superior value of the early morning sun. This point needs perpetually to be made.”

“In Canada, according to my own observation there, it is the combination of light and cold that contributes to the superb Canadian physique and vitality. In Switzerland the same is true, and Leonard Hill has shown us the physiological basis of this valuable combination.”

“It is certainly high time that the fundamentals of the biology and physiology of light should be well and truly laid.”

This was written in 1922.

I have already written about the U.S. Department of Labor Children’s Bureau 1931 sunbathing recommendations for babies. Their recommendations were incredibly wise and ahead of their time.

Diving into the intricacies of glass, the full light spectrum, UV, seasonality, building a solar callus. I was shocked when I first read it, and you will be too when you read it below.

Combining Past Wisdom with New Science

Many conditions respond to heliotherapy, especially skin conditions like:

Psoriasis
Eczema
Vitiligo

Knowing what we know about human biology, the applications reach way further than the skin. The POMC system shows great promise for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and overall human health.

We now understand that every aspect of our biology is tied to light.

Dr. Edward Podolsky in his book, ‘How to Charm with Color’, mentions:

"That with the influence of sunlight; pain, fever and chills disappear readily and the condition of the blood is often improved. Anemic, chlorotic and scrofulous patients have been found to derive immeasurable benefit from sun-baths. Sun-baths have shown to help with sinus infections and ulcers, which after exposure, start with a profuse discharge that occurs, followed by sloughing, the formation of healthy tissue, and a gradual drying and healing of the sinus infection or ulcer."

The Sun Doctor

Dr. Rollier (middle) treating a patient with exposure to the sun’s rays

Dr. Auguste Rollier (The “Sun Doctor”) developed the method of heliotherapy for the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1903 he began practicing his ideas one valley over from Villars-sur-Ollon, at Leysin, Switzerland.

By 1927, Rollier offered “the most improved treatment of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis” in Western medicine. He oversaw 36 sanatoria in the Vaudois Alps treating over 3,000 patients. His cure rate was exceptional and he saved the limbs of many patients who were scheduled for amputation.

Knowing this, how was centralized medicine today lost the plot?

Due to a Rockefeller inspired medical system that doesn’t want you to know about the POMC system. You heard me correctly. This is not conspiracy land. It’s truth based on the drive to acquire money and power.

Dr. Max Gulhane has spoken about it with me below on his podcast called The Regenerative Health Podcast.

Another major problem is that centralized MDs, dermatologists, and ophthalmologists rely on antiquated research that’s observational. They don’t actively educate themselves on the latest research available, largely because they believe they have the truth.

This messaging is at odds with Big Pharma because it gives people an alternative, cost-free path to health.

I understand that the pharmaceutical industry isn’t black and white, but a large part of the industry is evil. You can rationalize their bullshit behavior with “it’s their duty to shareholders” and what not, but more and more people are starting to despise them due to price gouging, a habit of lying, corruption, lobbying, hiding/manipulating scientific research, killing people, so forth.

If you understand how to utilize light properly, both with the light and dark cycle, then you can heal yourself in seemingly miraculous ways.

It sounds ridiculous to people, but they don’t understand the full scope of human biology, especially at the quantum level with light.

Every light wavelength from the sun evolved in accordance with biology.

Red light = Regenerative.

UV-A = Nitric oxide and more.

UV-B = POMC & D3 activation.

Violet = Eye regeneration and stopping myopia in its tracks.

Blue = Stimulatory, energizing, & fat burning.

Red & NIR = Mitochondrial ATPase nanomotor food. Mitochondrial melatonin and structuring of water within the body.

Look at the absorption spectrum of various things in your body. Every aspect of your system evolved to soak up natural sunlight.

It’s 2024.

Our understanding of sunlight and health should be a lot more up to date and comprehensive. You cannot rely on most medical professionals for this quality of information because they have yet to figure this out due to their centralized constraints and worldview.

If you’d like to learn more about light, sunlight in particular, and its biological underpinnings, then listen to our episode of The 2AM Podcast with Abud Bakri MD

It’ll enlighten you, to say the least.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with some old-school pictures displaying the wisdom of centralized medicine of the past.