Anadi Martel - Light Therapies: A Complete Guide to the Healing Power of Light

*

To my beloved Deva

Without her unconditional support

this book would not have seen the light of day

LIGHT
THERAPIES

Plants use light effectively. Why not humans? Would Mother Nature take a strategy developed so effectively for the plant kingdom and wantonly squander it as she created the animal kingdom? In an articulate and beautifully illustrated book, physicist and long-term president of the International Light Association Anadi Martel authoritatively describes the therapeutic effects of light in a comprehensive, reader-friendly fashion, beginning with the nature of light and the ancient history of light therapeutics all the way to the modern, exponentially growing field of science and medicine that uses light as a foundation. The book is liberally sprinkled with highlighted boxes containing little-known facts and fascinating insights. Its a joy to read. Highly recommended.

GERALD H. POLLACK, PH.D., PROFESSOR OF BIOENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR VENTURE SCIENCE, AND AUTHOR OF THE FOURTH PHASE OF WATER

In this wonderfully detailed and beautifully illustrated book, Anadi has thoroughly documented the present status of this rapidly advancing and very exciting field as has never been done before. Follow Anadis remarkable scientific and spiritual journey as he uncovers the essence of light and its diverse therapeutic applications. Here you will find the fascinating physics of light described with accuracy that can only be provided by a physicist but also with the clarity that can only come from a person with a real love and passion for communicating science in ways anyone can easily understand. As we move toward the medicine of the future, all of us need to know how light and color can benefit us. Whether light therapy is a new or an old subject for you, this is the most valuable, enjoyable, and up-to-date book you can read.

JAMES L. OSCHMAN, PH.D., AUTHOR OF ENERGY MEDICINE: THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS

Light Therapies is brilliant, a star among books about light. It is a must-read for everyone interested in the field of lightbeginners, experts, lay-people, health and wellness practitioners, teachers, and scientists. It covers the broadest spectrum of information about the historic, scientific, healing, and spiritual aspects of lights past, present, and future.... A spectacular achievement.

RAY GOTTLIEB, O.D., PH.D., DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF SYNTONIC OPTOMETRY

An important book that spearheads the new scientific paradigm in health and well-being. With profound insight, Martel explores how light lies at the very heart of our lives and outlines the effects of light on health, brain functions, cellular life, and our overall physical well-being. Here is a book that updates our understanding of physical realityand how to benefit from it. Light Therapies will change the way we look at medical practice. Light medicine is the future, now. It will tell you everything you need to knowbe informed!

KINGSLEY L. DENNIS, AUTHOR OF NEW CONSCIOUSNESS FOR A NEW WORLD AND THE STRUGGLE FOR YOUR MIND

Light Therapies is the best book on the subject I have ever come across. Anadi Martel gives descriptions of ALL of the therapeutic techniques using light and color that he has personally investigated and experimented with. Anadi is also an expert in Buddhist culture which completes his concept of light having three aspects: the physical, the energetic, and that of consciousness.

DANIEL ASIS, M.D., AUTHOR OF CHROMO-PSYCHOTHERAPIES

Anadi Martel has written a highly informative book on light therapies. It summarizes and explains the whole spectrum of light-based treatment methods and their broad applications in a beautifully illustrated manner. Surely, this volume will be very useful for beginners as well as for experts.

DETLEF SCHIKORA, PH.D., PROFESSOR OF SCIENCE AND BIOPHYSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADERBORN

The kind of light that Anadi brings to us is beyond alternative therapy; it is the healing power of light to restore alignment between the physical and emotional bodies with the reality of the spiritual Source of all light.

NISHANT MATTHEWS, FOUNDER OF SAMASSATI COLORTHERAPY

For those who seek a deeper understanding of how light can heal our lives, this timely book is a must-read.

PAULINE ALLEN, PRINCIPAL OF THE SOUND LEARNING CENTER (LONDON)

FOREWORD

Jacob Liberman, OD, PhD, DSc (Hon)

IT WAS 1971, and I was beginning the clinical portion of my optometric training. One of my first patients was an eleven-year-old boy whod been diagnosed with lazy eye, amblyopia. Even though his eyes were healthy and he didnt require prescription glasses, he was only able to see the big E on the eye chart. Having never worked with someone with this condition, I spoke with one of the clinic doctors, and he suggested I have the boy look through a yellow filter at a light bulb that was slowly flashing on and off. The technique the clinic doctor recommended supposedly stimulated the part of the eye dealing with the ability to perceive color and see details clearly. Even though I had no idea how or why this might work, it did. In fact, I measured improvement after the first session, and this continued for weeks, resulting in a 300 percent improvement in the boys visual acuity.

Three years later, I used a photographic strobe light to pulse a flash of light into the better eye of another patient with the same condition, and then allowed the energy created by the light to travel through the brain to the other eye. Since both eyes are neurologically connected, I reasoned that the better eye would then train its counterpart to see more clearly. To my amazement, the patients visual acuity improved by 200 percent in less than thirty minutes.

A year later, I attended a conference on behavioral optometry in Miami. As chance would have it, the keynote speaker, Dr. John Ott, a pioneer of photobiology, shared his discoveries about the effects of light on health. Dr. Otts research demonstrated that light profoundly affects plants, animals, and humans in ways I had never even considered. Over the next twenty-five years, Dr. Ott and I developed a friendship and communicated often. In fact, I was invited to his Florida home on many occasions, spending countless hours talking about light.

During the years that followed, I conducted research about the therapeutic use of colored light via the eyes and reached out to experts worldwide who were also researching or using light and color to alleviate physical and emotional disorders. Because the internet and email had not yet been developed, I spent a great deal of time doing obscure research in libraries, writing letters, and calling the doctors, scientists, and laypeople who were investigating this field.

I traveled to Germany at the invitation of Dr. Fritz Hollwich, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Muenster, West Germany. Later I spent time with Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp, a leading researcher in the field of biophotons, at his laboratory in Neuss, Germany. I also visited the National Institutes of Health to meet with Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a South African psychiatrist who was the first to describe seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and pioneered the use of light therapy for its treatment. I introduced Dr. Rosenthal to syntonic phototherapy and shared my discoveries concerning the relationship between color and unresolved emotional issues. I then proceeded to Philadelphia, to Thomas Jefferson University, to discuss my findings with Dr. Bud Brainard, professor of neurology. From there I went to the University of Texas Health Science Center to learn more about the pineal gland from neuroscientist Dr. Russel Reiter. I later invited these three scientists, along with Darius Dinshah, Harry Wohlfarth, and other pioneers in the field of light therapy to be keynote speakers at the annual College of Syntonic Optometry meeting. By now I was so inspired to share my discoveries with others that I sold my optometric practice and moved to Colorado, where I founded the Aspen Center for Energy Medicine and began writing my first book.