Shawn O'Hara: Welcome everybody. My guest today is Tim Van Vliet. Tim is the founder of A New Dawn Red Light Therapy Clinic in Langford, BC. As a graduate of UVic with a teaching degree, Tim spent most of the last 25 years teaching a variety of subjects in high schools in Canada, Ireland, and Scotland.

His passion for rugby led him to playing and coaching for two Canadian national teams, and this ironically was the framework from which he started his career as a healer. Now he spends every day working with people one-on-one as they face the challenges created by a medical system that is overwhelmed and unable to provide the care and attention people need, especially those with conditions that are not easy to diagnose or treat. Welcome, Tim.

Tim Van Vliet: Thanks for having me, Shawn. It's a pleasure to be here.

Shawn O'Hara: So tell me a bit more about that journey from rugby into a healer. That's fascinating.

Tim Van Vliet: I call it ironic because people, when they think about rugby, they think about giant men colliding and bones breaking. But the injuries I sustained playing were incredibly informative. I suffered a few concussions, ligament tears, and bone breaks. Playing at a high level, every time that happened, I learned a little bit more about the body.

Coaching everyone from players to elite players, experiencing their injuries and joining them on that journey, I wanted them to get better and get the treatment they required. I learned a lot about how the body works, on top of what I learned in university, taking a lot of kinesiology and biomechanics. My degree was in biology and phys ed, so I had a solid grounding and an intuitive sense that later led me to Reiki training.

The scientist is one thing, but then the energy worker is a completely different end of the paradigm. Marrying those two kind of led me to a certain place in my understanding of how people work. Then stumbling across red light therapy three and a half years ago, knowing nothing about it, healed me three times. I was finally like, what is this witchcraft?

I started digging into it and realized this is science. This isn't the woowoo Reiki realm, despite its effectiveness. It's rooted in something that is clinically measurable and repeatable. When I found that, I decided I should dig deeper. It led me to having my own clinic and the courage, resolve, and belief in this healing to take the risk to treat others and have a space to do that in. It's been a difficult journey, but every day it's so worth it.

Shawn O'Hara: For people who have no idea what red light therapy is, what would you tell them?

Tim Van Vliet: Which is most people, even though they've heard of it and people have been talking positively of it. I'd say it's really exploding in terms of awareness, but the understanding isn't really there yet. Without boring people with the biochemistry, very simply, photonic energy stimulates the cells.

Mitochondria, which is the powerhouse of the cell, generate more ATP energy. Adenosine triphosphate is the energy by which all of our cells function. We don't actually run on glucose. We have to combine glucose and oxygen in the mitochondria to create ATP. At the same time, there’s gene expression signaling where the mitochondria tell the nucleus, we've got energy, let's do our job.

You would think this is happening without any requirement since our cells need to do their job, but we're chronically under lit and photo sensitive. We need light, but we've clothed ourselves most of the year, blocking the light that way. In the summer we put on sunscreen, which is healthy for blocking UVA and UVB rays, but it also blocks the good light: green, blue, orange, yellow, and red. It's all good light except for UV.

This has led us to a predicament where our bodies aren't functioning properly at a cellular level. When we shine the light on, we're really trying to restore and amplify our body's ability to do everything, but one of those things is heal.

Shawn O'Hara: How does it differ from tanning beds? About a decade or two ago, they were a rage and then faded out. How does it compare?

Tim Van Vliet: As the clinical data came out, it was realized this actually causes cancer in some people. The whole idea of tanning beds is to shine UV light on the body to stimulate the melanin in the skin to darken. Certain people think a tanned look is healthy and attractive. It's much better what bodybuilders do with the spray tans.

There was an absolute collapse of the tanning bed industry when this was clinically proven. The light beds that we're using are all longer wavelength, mostly 660 nanometers to 810, which is the red to near-infrared spectrum. At these wavelengths, we see optimal stimulation of the mitochondria and the enzymes within them.

We use red light because the longer wavelength has a smaller photon, so it penetrates deeper before it runs into anything. The LED, red and near infrared, penetrates about an inch, an inch and a quarter. It's actually no better than green or blue. Even blue, the shortest wavelength we typically treat with, delivers huge energy right to the surface of the skin. So, for skin conditions on the surface, blue light is amazing.

We have facial masks that deliver all the wavelengths of light: blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and near-infrared. I hope that answered your question. I tend to waffle a bit.

Shawn O'Hara: So no relation to tanning beds then, and perfectly safe.

Tim Van Vliet: The light pod looks like a tanning bed. You lie in it, the lid comes down, so you're getting treated from both sides, but it's a completely different wavelength of light and totally safe. It's about 20 times the price, extremely expensive, with 600 bulbs instead of 20 long fluorescent bulbs. It looks like a tanning bed in the same way that a Maserati looks like a Volkswagen Beetle. Not to dis the Volkswagen users out there. I am one.

Shawn O'Hara: How long has the tech been around?

Tim Van Vliet: The understanding that it was doing something really started in 1907. In the fifties, the pharmaceutical industry was doing trials trying to create cancer in rats by shaving them, slicing their skin, and shining laser on them. They were horrified to find it actually healed them faster than the group not receiving the laser.

It was shoved underground at that point because it wasn't in the pharmaceutical industry’s interest. They wanted to create cancer to try to treat it. In the fifties, we really had an understanding of it. Thor Photo Medicine, the first real company manufacturing this equipment, started in 1997 by James Carroll in the UK. He’s the one who provided our equipment, and it's kind of the gold standard in the industry. So, it's 30 years now that he's put everything into this business, and it's just growing as it becomes more accessible.

Shawn O'Hara: Is it a regulated industry?

Tim Van Vliet: It's not regulated yet. This is one of the things I want to do with my mentor Josh Crawford, up in Genoa Laser Therapy in Duncan: create an association to set a standard and police what's happening out there. Particularly on Amazon or online shopping, all of the red light home use devices are vastly underpowered.

They are not what I would call therapeutic, and no one understands what they're looking for to determine its effectiveness. Irradiance is the specification, and something in excess of 70 milliwatts per square centimeter is a good standard. All of the LED pads and home use devices we use in the clinic are 100 milliwatts per square centimeter, really where the therapeutic level should be.

If you buy stuff online, you may as well wrap yourself in LED Christmas lights to get a similar effect. In terms of dosage, honestly, people think I'm being cheeky, but it is not helpful to spend all this money on things that are not delivering a therapeutic dose. That means you’d need to sit with it for hours to have a measurable effect. The healing is so subtle anyway; people don't know. A lot of it is placebo, and with that intention comes healing.

When we think about mobilizing our body's energies and defenses to an area that's giving us harm, we are actually diverting our attention to that area and improving healing. There is a metaphysical, intellectual, and emotional component to this. But please don't waste your money on something that isn't going to treat you to the level they claim. If you're looking at something and it does not report the irradiance or the dosage, don't buy it. If it's not reporting that, it's not at a level that supports their claims.

Shawn O'Hara: A risk is people get this, use it, buy it off Amazon, think it doesn't work, and say why should I go to a clinic to pay more for something because it doesn't work for me when it's just not strong enough.

Tim Van Vliet: Exactly. There's a lot of red light being used in physiotherapy and chiropractic clinics, but they haven't been trained in its use. They're just like, okay, point and shoot. Besides wavelength, there's also frequency that's important to understand.

It is frustrating for those of us who've spent a great deal of time trying to familiarize ourselves with the different protocols, and also being privy to protocols that have been proven by years of trials like what Josh has done up in Duncan. He’s downloaded a lot of that information to me as my mentor. I am on a call with him every week to go over some of the cases I've seen to ensure I'm maximizing my capacity to serve and make good decisions and provide helpful, albeit nonmedical, advice.

Shawn O'Hara: That would be neat, an association that does that. I guess it legitimizes it or gives some reassurance to people.

Tim Van Vliet: Just trying to hold the industry to a standard that hasn't yet been established. I think it's really important that people are trained, passionate about it, and not just trying to print money by getting people to lie in a bed for 12 minutes without oxygen.

It's important, part of what you're treating in the light pod is your hemoglobin, so we need to give it oxygen to maximize efficiency. Oxygen therapy is included with our light pod visits, and people really feel the effects that much sooner. Healing is subtle and that's one of the challenges: it's not like a spa treatment where you walk out feeling great. Especially if people have been distancing themselves from their body because they've been hurt, uncomfortable, or feel their body isn't attractive.

They're critical, and all those things lead to an unhealthy relationship. If they've been distancing from their body and turning down the signals, they can't feel a subtle shift or relief on a minute scale. Each session they're like, is this really worth it? It takes about three sessions, either the pod or focus healing or both, to feel the reduction in inflammation, pain, and increase in vitality. We're talking about making you healthier at a molecular level, which takes a while to make itself known.

Shawn O'Hara: Can you explain what someone goes through when they decide to go to your clinic? What happens?

Tim Van Vliet: The first part is a consultation. This is important for both parties because I need to understand their experience. Often they come in for one reason, but when we get talking, they mention an old injury that never healed. These things come out in story and all play a role in what is present for them, whether they're aware or not.

Trying to download that information is important for me, but I also get to educate them. If they don't understand what's happening, chances are they're not going to feel or see the value and stick it out. We don't have an extended medical benefits package yet, but it's coming in the next couple of years. These services are private and costly because the equipment is expensive and we need a brick and mortar structure. I explain why they're giving this a chance and how it will react in their individual circumstance.

After that 15 or 20 minutes, they go into the pod for 15 minutes of the 20-minute session. Less is more the first time; sometimes people will stir up some toxins and debris and feel rough that night, but one in four people feel ten feet tall and bulletproof. They have to take it easy because they can overdo it. About half the people don't feel much after the first session, which is frustrating, but at least if you're on either end, you feel like something's happening.

Depending on their needs, if they're looking for body contouring, we go into the vibration platform. For therapy, we go into the therapy room, spend 15 minutes on their primary concern, and I might wrap up some secondary concerns in other pads, treating other areas of the body while I provide the laser. The class 3B laser is a focal point of the clinic because the power and depth I can get is far greater than LED, reaching about four inches of depth. With pressure and different angles, I can reach organs and ball and socket joints, which often have degeneration or injury.

Shawn O'Hara: When they're on their bed, do they put on special clothing? Are they naked, covered in gel, or what happens?

Tim Van Vliet: When they're in the bed, it's important that they take this opportunity to try to sink out of sympathetic state and into parasympathetic. One epidemic of our time is anxiety. Our endocrine system reacts to threats, but now we have existential threats all the time. The mortgage doesn't go away, the family responsibilities don't go away. We have complexity in our lives that is unprecedented.

Part of this process is getting them to go into care and downregulate. Ideally, they're naked in the pod, but that might cause anxiety for some, so I tell people to wear whatever they are comfortable with while still allowing the light to reach their skin. Sometimes people are in their underwear, shorts, or t-shirt, but ideally without clothing. They don't need to put on any cream or anything. It’s just au naturel.

I tell them to stop thinking, which is impossible for people nowadays. I encourage people to have some peacekeeping time for themselves to do breath work, meditation, knitting, or anything where they can be happy and at rest. We haven't changed in 50,000 years, and 50,000 years ago, we rested 12 hours a day because there was nothing to do. It was dark outside, and that's just what we did. That was a rejuvenative time for us. Now we sleep five to six hours a day and have constant stimulation. That's important.

Shawn O'Hara: We ran around naked under the sun in some areas. Where can people find out more?

Tim Van Vliet: They can visit our website at anewdawnlighttherapy.com. Through the website, you can see our Jane app, the clinic schedule, and if there's an opening, feel free to stop in. I’ll probably be available for a conversation and to show you the place. No commitment, no expectation, no high-pressure sales gimmicks. This is about your health and healing, and I'm passionate about it.

I've already seen so many people's lives change. I know what's possible for people. They just need to feel free to investigate without feeling ambushed. That's the environment I want to share because I have nothing to hide, and there's so much to explore and still much to learn for all of us.

Shawn O'Hara: Where is your clinic located physically?

Tim Van Vliet: 689 Hoffman Avenue in Langford. It's just a few blocks south of the highway on Veterans Memorial.

Shawn O'Hara: Perfect. My guest today has been Tim Van Vliet, founder of A New Dawn Red Light Therapy Clinic in Langford. Thank you so much, Tim.

Tim Van Vliet: Thanks for having me.

Shawn O'Hara: And that's a wrap.

Tim Van Vliet: Wrap it up.

• A New Dawn Red Light Therapy Clinic: www.anewdawnlighttherapy.com
• Address: 689 Hoffman Avenue, Langford, BC