[00:00:08.330] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Good morning and welcome to Green Tea Conversations, the radio show that delves into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine to bring you the local experts who share their progressive ideas and the latest information and insights needed so you can lead your best life.

 

[00:00:22.040] - Candi Broeffle, Host

I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, publisher of the Twin Cities edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, and I am honored to bring these experts to you. Today on the show, we welcome back Guy Odishaw, a bioelectric medicine practitioner and the owner of Bhakti Wellness Center in Edina. Welcome back to the show, Guy.

 

[00:00:39.830] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Thanks, Candi. It's good to be here.

 

[00:00:41.820] - Candi Broeffle, Host

We are very glad to have you back. So you have been with us a few times over the last six months, but for those listeners who maybe new haven't heard the interviews with you in the past, perhaps you can share a little bit about yourself and then share with us about the Bhakti Wellness Center.

 

[00:01:00.050] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Certainly. So I've been practicing in the area of holistic health for about 30 years, started off working as a massage therapist and then as an instructor traditional Chinese medicine, practiced for a while, then eventually ended up at University of Minnesota, brought on to start an integrative clinic there. I spent eight years at the University running the integrative clinic. Then I left the University and started Bakhti. And really, it's about 16 years now. I've been running the clinic and working as a practitioner, and I've now expanded my own services from manual therapies and Chinese medicine into bioelectric medicine and into neuroimaging neurofeedback, neuro-modulation. And have the Bhakti Brain Health Clinic and the Minnesota Brain Health Clinic as kind of additional projects because I'm not busy enough.

 

[00:01:58.210] - Candi Broeffle, Host

You just wanted to learn a few more things to put in your repertoire.

 

[00:02:02.430] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Exactly. Yes. And then Bhakti really started out of my time as a teacher and listening to my students come back and share their stories of what it was like to graduate and go out and try and find work. And I kept hearing the same frustrations. Student after student after student, thousands of students cross professions. Candi started to think, well, I could build a business that could solve those problems, and that would be helpful for providers. So I really started Bakhti more about it as providers, being able to find a place to do what they love to do and serve the community and help more of them have personal and professionally rewarding careers in holistic health. The other side of that was then for patients how to create a space in which patients could access high quality, diverse care at affordable rates. And how could I bring those two together? And that's really what boxing is, Candi. Consider it an experiment. It's a 16 year old experiment where we're always playing with how can we optimize it for both sides of the equation so that providers have a place to work and they get to do what they love to do and they can make a living at it.

 

[00:03:17.510] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

And how do patients access quality care? So that's really what Bachvia is. We ended up being one of the largest integrated clinics in the country. Prepondemic. We had 31 providers in the clinic. Right now, we're probably running around 15 providers. So still one of the largest integrative clinics, Candi would say for sure one of the most diverse in terms of our offerings.

 

[00:03:41.530] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Yes. And I was going to ask you that. So share with us some of the offerings that you have because you guys have a lot that happens underneath that roof.

 

[00:03:51.550] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yeah. So we have mental health services. We have a couple of chiropractors, we have a couple of MDS. So these are medical doctors who work in a direct primary care model. So membership medicine is a very unique way to be able to kind of see your doctor. And one of the things about the model is our doctors most often are traveling to their patients. So they do house calls or office calls. Rarely do they have patients coming into the clinic. So that's a very unique model. Then we have our neural imaging and neurofeedback neuromodulation clinic. We have hypnotherapy, we have aesthetics, we have our acupuncture. Our bioelectric medicine probably is close to all of it. I always leave somebody out again.

 

[00:04:44.780] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Did you say massage therapist?

 

[00:04:46.720] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Oh, we have massage therapist, yes. So a very diverse group of people with an intention to work together, to work as an integrated group. Today, we had a great example of a young lady who was in for some bodywork and then for some Chinese medicine to help her out with some fertility issues. And so she was able to get that care same place. Candi just kind of seamlessly. When I was finished, I left the room, the acupuncturist came in and just continued her visit with acupuncture. Similarly, a lot of people come in for neurofeedback and they'll get acupuncture while they're doing their neural feedback. The ability of the acupuncture needles to affect brain function is amazing. We have much better results with our neural feedback when we blend in acupuncture. So practicing integrative medicine in very novel ways.

 

[00:05:49.480] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Yes. Well, Candi wanted to let our listeners know as well that we have done several interviews over the years with different practitioners from your office. So if you go to our website and you look under GTC, which is Green Green Tea Conversations episodes at NaturalTwinCities.com, and you put in a search for Bhakti, B-H-A-K-T-I, you can find interviews with several of the practitioners from the Bhakti Wellness Center. So kind of get an idea of what else is available as well. But today we are going to talk about macular regeneration. And so we're really excited. This has always been one of our best shows. Our most popular shows that we have is when you have been on the show or your practitioners have been on the show and talking about macular regeneration. So before we delve into that, I want to ask you to help us understand what is macular degeneration.

 

[00:06:55.330] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

So we're going to talk specifically about macular degeneration, but also I want to broaden the category to degenerative eye conditions in general. So that might be star guards or retinitis pigmentosa, other conditions that are different enough that they get a different name but have a similar underlying process going on. So I'll describe macular degeneration, but we can think about those other conditions as having a slight variation on the same thing. Right. So we should say that it isn't really well understood why macular degeneration happens. What we can say is one of the main phenomena of it or presentations is a breakdown of the small vessels in the retina. And as the blood vessels break down, what forms behind them is a Druzin, which then obscures the retina, and then vision is lost in that spot because it's blocked. Right. So you've got two things breaking down of a blood vessel. So you get an ischemia happening lack of blood flow. You get this droozen that forms that blocks vision. And so this is the main thing happening in macular degeneration, and it generally happens in the center of the visual field and then just grows over time, affecting more and more area.

 

[00:08:24.130] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

And Western medicine considers it to be a degenerative process that once it starts, there is no treatment for it. They do injections to try and help slow down that process, which it can have that effect for many people, but it isn't a treatment for it. They're not trying to change the underlying condition. They're just trying to slow that process to extend the time in which person has more vision.

 

[00:08:51.310] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Okay. Well, you have a highly effective program that you've been using with your clients for nearly 15 years, and you utilize a number of holistic practices to treat the macular degeneration and actually help to regenerate it. So one aspect of the program that you use is called bioelectric medicine. So why don't you tell us a little bit about bioelectric medicine, and we'll start there because then when we come back from our break, we'll get into even more of the research with it.

 

[00:09:23.620] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Sure. So one of my favorite researchers is Michael Levin in this area of bioelectric medicine, and how he practices it is different than how we practice it. But nevertheless, his research is really telling us that the field has been on the right track for decades. So his research is proof of concept. He's taking our ideas and showing that they are indeed a solid science behind them. But it's basically what his fundamental premise is, that it's not our genes that determine an outcome. It's really the bioelectric field. It's the energetic gradient within a cell or within a group of cells or within an organ that energetic. That electrical gradient is what determines function and morphology or shape. What that cell or group of cells is up to is based on its electrical gradient. And by affecting that electrical gradient, we can radically change what is happening in the anatomy. And so there's a whole area of regenerative medicine, and we think of regenerative medicine. We think about the salamander that can regrow a leg. And Michael Levin's work is really about showing how that can be triggered in other species, other species that don't naturally regenerate. He's been able to show by manipulating the electrical field, he can get a limb to regrow on an animal that normally does not regenerate.

 

[00:11:05.710] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Well, when we come back, we're going to continue this conversation and get into even more of the research behind bioelectric medicine and learn about how you're using it with macular regeneration. So to learn more about the Bhakti Wellness Clinic and to make an appointment, visit BhaktiClinic.com. That's BhaktiClinic.com. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on AM950Radio.com, on Apple and Google podcasts, and anywhere you get your podcasts. You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM950 the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back.

 

[00:12:05.630] 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you.

 

[00:12:15.310] - Candi Broeffle, Host

I'm your host, Candi Broeffle.

 

[00:12:17.120] - Candi Broeffle, Host

And today we're visiting with Guy Odishaw, a bioelectric medicine practitioner and the owner of the Bakti Wellness Center in Edina. So just before the break, you were telling us about some of the research and kind of introducing us to bioelectric medicine. But let's talk a little bit more about bioelectric medicine and the research behind using it with macular regeneration.

 

[00:12:44.690] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yes, I was mentioning Michael Levin's work, who is really doing his work on an electrochemical level. And we don't do bioelectric medicine in that way. We're working with electric fields, Candi, whether that's electric fields through microcurrent therapy or electric fields through electro acupuncture. But we have those two ways in which we use electric fields to change the electrical gradient in the body to bring about the effect that we want. One of the applications is to use microcurrent therapy kind of on or around the eyes to do a number of things. Right. So you've got multiple contributors to the degenerative process of macular degeneration. It isn't a single variable. It's a multivariable, multi system disease. And we can address it in a number of places with each of these modalities and address it in more places when we stack the modalities together. So, for example, with the microcurrent therapy, we'd be increasing cellular energy. So ATP, the mitochondrial activity. The way we say it is, we're charging up the tissue. And it's a colloquial way of saying it, but it is also literal. And the research shows that, indeed, microcurrent therapy can increase ATP production by up to 500%.

 

[00:14:18.180] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

So we know that the science says it can happen. We hypothesize that that's what's one of the effects, why microcurrent helps in a degenerative disease is basically you have tissues that are wearing out, right? In our model, in our language, we would say that's what's happening in the macula is that the vasculature that breaks down, it's breaking down because it's wearing out. If we can revitalize those cells, they won't break down. And then you don't get the ischemia, you don't get the Druzin forming. And so one of the ways is to use microgram therapy to increase ATP production. So there's also frequency specific frequencies to treat different parts of the eye. So we can treat the lens, we can treat the retina, we can treat the optic nerve, which is like retina is really kind of nerve tissue, but it is anatomically different, although functionally the same. So we have frequencies to treat the optic nerve itself, the retina, the vitreous fluid, the different layers of the lens. And so when we build a protocol, we're able to treat the different parts of the eye and we have frequencies to say, well, what do we want to have happen there?

 

[00:15:39.400] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Do we need to decrease inflammation? Do we need to repair tears in vasculature? Do we need to stimulate the body to increase more vasculature? So it all depends on where a person is. Are they an early diagnosis showing no signs of the disease yet, or are they late stage? Right. I treated a lady who had early onset macular degeneration. She had the disease for 40 years and we were able to make a significant improvement in her vision, even though she had it that long and had lost as much as she had and had the extensive damage. So it is truly a regenerative medicine. We can turn the clock back on the cellular damage.

 

[00:16:25.110] - Candi Broeffle, Host

So I have to ask, is it painful?

 

[00:16:29.850] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Excellent question. So the nice thing about microcurrent is it is sub sensory. You don't feel it, right? At worst, people feel like a slight little Tingle on the skin, but even that isn't necessary. All we need to do there is, we turn down the intensity. When people think about electricity, they get a little concerned. But I always tell people, if you take AAA battery and put your fingers on either side of that battery, you won't feel anything. But you'll be getting an electric current, right? By putting your fingers on each end, you completed the circuit, you're getting a current, you don't feel anything. And that's more energy than what comes in microcurrent, right? We're talking a millionth of an amp. It's a tiny, tiny little bit of current. We call it a bioidentical current. You don't feel your cells functioning. Microcurrent is the same amount of energy that your cells are producing when they're doing their job of metabolizing a tiny little bit of electricity. It's just applied very specifically, and that's what makes it be effective. So, yeah. So no sensation from the micro current.

 

[00:17:44.770] - Candi Broeffle, Host

So in my mind, I'm envisioning something like the laser surgery when they have it very pinpointed. Are you using that same type of I know you're not using the same device, but is it like in the shape of a pen or how is it so that you can really be specific?

 

[00:18:05.660] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yeah. So we have a number of ways of applying it. It could be as simple as a wet cloth over the eyes and forehead. We have masks. We have masks that have holes in them so you can see the person can have the microcurrent on it's basically like a mask you might use if you had a sinus cold and you wanted to put like a warm compress around your eyes. So we have masks like that that have microcurrent in them. So we have a number of different ways to apply it around the eyes, but it is more distributed broadly than being focal in its delivery. Now if we do electric acupuncture, then it's focal because you're getting a needle, and then that needle is having current run through it. So that's a very focal application of it. But when we're talking straight microcurrent, it is done more in a wet cloth or a mask.

 

[00:19:02.030] - Candi Broeffle, Host

So I have to go back and ask when you're talking about microcurrent acupuncture or what did you call it again?

 

[00:19:11.300] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Electro acupuncture.

 

[00:19:12.730] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Electro acupuncture. Are you sticking the needle in the eye?

 

[00:19:19.410] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

I love it. No. So there's a number of different approaches, but breaking it down into kind of schools of thought. There's schools of thought that treat with needles around the eye, around the orbit of the eye, and that's not even necessarily treating an eye condition. You might have a shoulder pain, and your acupuncturist is needling you in the orbit of the eye. So there's the approach to needle around the eyes. But more often, our approach is to needle in the hand and the forearm. I would say that's the pinnacle of the science today is needling distally to affect the eyes sometimes needling the feet in the hands of the forearms seems to have the most potent effect on the eyes.

 

[00:20:04.050] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Okay. Well, when we come back, we're going to continue this conversation and talk about the other aspects of the protocol that you're using for people for macular regeneration. So for people who want to learn more about the Bakti Wellness Clinic and to make an appointment, visit BhaktiClinic.com. And again, that's BhaktiClinic.com. Or you can call (612) 859-7709. Again, that number is (612) 859-7709. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on Am950Radio.com on Apple and Google podcasts. And anywhere you get your podcast, you're listening to Green Tea Conversations on a 950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back. Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you.

 

[00:21:27.120] - Candi Broeffle, Host

I'm your host, Candi Broeffle.

 

[00:21:28.770] - Candi Broeffle, Host

And today we're talking with Guy Odishaw, a bioelectric medicine practitioner and the owner of the Bhakti Wellness Center in Edina. So just before the break, you were starting to share with us more information about the bioelectric medicine and how you use it with macular regeneration. And we started talking about how you also use it with acupuncture. Candi just had a question for you because I started to get a little bit sidetracked myself and started wondering, are you talking about regular acupuncture now or are you talking about electro acupuncture?

 

[00:22:04.550] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yeah, great question. So certainly we'll just say acupuncture is acupuncture. Right. So the acupuncture is putting in needles in the traditional locations where they would but then if they want to do electro acupuncture, they have a special little kind of microcurrent device similar to what I use in microcurrent therapy, but different. And it's got a little alligator clip on it, and they just clip that onto the needle. So there'd be one positive and one negative that creates a current that flows down the needle into the body and out the other needle, Candi. So at any point, a regular acupuncture session could become an electro acupuncture session by just putting those little clips on a couple of needles and away you go. So in the case of the macular regeneration program, again, the choice to use the electricity or not is up to the acupuncturist. Do they feel that that's what the particular patient they're working on that system needs? Does it need the extra boost of the current? Then they're going to do it. If they feel like, no, actually, what I have here is an overactivated Meridian, then they're not going to use electricity because that would increase the stimulation.

 

[00:23:23.900] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

If they're trying to shunt Shi away from the area, it's a different choice. So it can be woven in and out of a session seamlessly based on the signs and symptoms and presentation of a particular patient.

 

[00:23:37.970] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Okay, so another aspect of the program is you use Chinese herbs in doing the macular regeneration. So tell us about that.

 

[00:23:48.770] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of herbal medicine in general. Chinese medicine, herbal medicine in particular. It's one of the most potent areas of traditional Chinese medicine is the herbs and one of the most functional for people because you can do it at home and you can have your herbal support one, two, three times a day as prescribed versus acupuncture become to the clinic for a macular degeneration program. If somebody's really doing the full program, they're coming at least twice a week and having two treatments each visit. So they'd come and they would have 30 minutes of acupuncture, take a break, have another 30 minutes of acupuncture. So two sessions, one day, do that twice a week for several weeks until we start to see the condition start to retreat, then we'd modify the protocol. So it's intensive in terms of time, where if we layer in herbs, something somebody can do at home. A great example of this is my mom. Now, her problem wasn't macular degeneration, it was Graves disease from a thyroid condition. But she had all of the presentations of fullblown Graves disease, the enlarged eyes, the lack of tear production. So it's very painful, distorted vision.

 

[00:25:22.770] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

She was functionally blind and in a lot of discomfort and huge loss in quality of life, couldn't watch TV, couldn't read, couldn't do her crossword puzzles, couldn't do her puzzles, couldn't drive. All of the things that she did with her day to day she couldn't do all of a sudden. So we brought her down. She lives up in Candi, where I'm originally from. So we flew her down and she saw that our acupuncturist at the time, but because she lived in Canada, coming for regular acupuncture wasn't going to be an option. So we had to use herbs as the main treatment modality. Bless her heart. She was compliant and she had her tea twice a day and by three months had significant change and by six months had pretty much returned to her pre Graves Disease vision, actually, with a slight improvement. They had to tweak the prescription on her glasses a little bit from before all of this started. And now we're about 1617 years since then. And her vision has maintained. So she treated for six months, 17 years later, the treatment has held really amazing. Yeah, absolutely remarkable. Of course, near and dear to me because she's my mom, but it got me passionate about the ability to treat eye conditions.

 

[00:26:59.590] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Candi that really started me down this path of what we have now is kind of a full on macular regeneration program can really try and grow a patient demographic for chronic degenerative eye conditions. So I feel like herbs are really the foundation of the program.

 

[00:27:20.410] - Candi Broeffle, Host

So tell us more about that. Are there particular herbs that you use, or is it based on what people are missing or they need? How do you determine that?

 

[00:27:30.800] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Sure. So that's the role of the acupuncturist to assess that person's system and understand where their imbalances are and what herbs they need to move the Chi for the bioelectric gradient in what way to restore a normal function at a cellular level. And so there are thousands of herbs in the Chinese medicine Pharmacopia. So what any one acupuncturist might choose, and it really is patient dependent. Now, of course, there are some herbs that are well understood to play a more dominant role, say, in eye health, in something like macular degeneration. But it is not like there's a formula that you would go and get off the shelf. That is the macular degeneration formula. That's what we do in Western medicine. Right. You can go and buy a supplement that is a macular degeneration supplement that is based on the research that says this is what everybody needs. But they don't work very well because in that they're made for everyone. They're made for no one. And what's beautiful about Chinese medicine, really, any herbal medicine and even functional medicine is picking up on this is whatever the treatment plan is, it must be personalized. And so no two people's prescription for herbal remedy for their macular degeneration is going to be the same.

 

[00:29:09.730] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

That would be bad Chinese medicine if a practitioner just gave, oh, your macular degeneration. Here, I've got to fix for that. Here, take this. Here, take this. No, it needs to be customized to that person at that point in their healing journey. Hopefully a month later, the formula needs to be changed because their system has changed. And that's exactly what we did with my mom. Right. We would mail her a modified prescription every few weeks as her system was changing and her symptoms were receding, she needed a different herbal formula, Candi.

 

[00:29:48.660] - Candi Broeffle, Host

So with the herbal formula, is it all tea based? So is it a blend that's made and then you drink the tea or.

 

[00:29:56.740] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Correct. The optimal would be raw herbs. But Americans are not too hip to that. Take home this bag of sticks and twigs and Caterpillar fur and then boil it up and drink it. Right. No, compliance is very low, so we do powder. And so it's a step away from the raw herb, but it's much more palatable, and some of them even taste good. But don't count on it. The next is to go to a capsule, so you won't be drinking it. You don't taste it, but you're having the powdered herb in a capsule form. Then the next is to go to what's called a patent remedy, which is kind of a sugar pill rolled in the herb and taken. So the least potent and least effective, but it's the one Americans will take the most readily is the patent formula, herbs.

 

[00:31:05.360] - Candi Broeffle, Host

We sure don't want to have any discomfort.

 

[00:31:08.950] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Right? Exactly. We just want it to be easy and pleasant and can. It not inconvenience me and not cost too much. Right. That's how I want my medicine. Right. I just had to do it. Right. I've been struggling with the sinus infection, and I didn't go see my doctor. I called him, called his office, and then he called in a prescription. And then I swung by the pharmacy and picked it up and I got my pill. So I too I'm the same way. Like, I want my health care to be as convenient as possible.

 

[00:31:49.260] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Yes, we certainly do. But for your mom, she ended up using a tea.

 

[00:31:56.510] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

She used the powdered herbs.

 

[00:31:58.630] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Oh, she used the powdered herbs.

 

[00:32:00.350] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yes. Which is a tea. You make it in hot water and you drink it like a tea.

 

[00:32:08.610] - Candi Broeffle, Host

That's the most highly effective form of it.

 

[00:32:11.780] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

One step away. So the raw herbs, which is not a powdered at all. It's literally sticks and berries and twigs and cockroaches. Again, the pharmacopoe.

 

[00:32:25.380] - Candi Broeffle, Host

I don't think I could do that.

 

[00:32:27.390] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Yeah, it's challenging. When I was doing my Chinese medicine training as part of the training, I did do that. I will say it was highly effective. I had a digestive condition that my doctor had been trying to treat for years, unsuccessfully. The best he could do is manage it. I went to see this old Chinese medicine guy that felt my pulse, gave me this bag of sticks and leaves, told me to boil it and drink it. And it was like tar. But I was better. And I didn't get worse again. Right. That's 20 some years ago.

 

[00:33:03.170] - Candi Broeffle, Host

That's amazing.

 

[00:33:04.590] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

So the raw herbs are the best way to go. But it's time intensive and it's kind of nasty, but it's good. It's good for you. Powdered herbs are easier and taste better, so compliance is more.

 

[00:33:20.910] - Candi Broeffle, Host

There you go. Well, when we come back, we're going to continue our conversation, and we're going to have you introduce us to microcurrent in light therapy and how that is used with macular regeneration as well. So for people who want to learn more about the Bhakti Wellness Clinic and to make an appointment, visit BhaktiClinic.com or call (612) 859-7709. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on Am950Radio.com on Apple and Google podcasts. And anywhere you get your podcast, you're listening to Green Tea Conversations on Am 950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back.

 

[00:34:32.930] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations.

 

[00:34:35.120] - Candi Broeffle, Host

Where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you.

 

[00:34:42.300] - Candi Broeffle, Host

I'm your host, Candi Broeffle.

 

[00:34:43.770] - Candi Broeffle, Host

And today we're visiting with Guy Odysha, a bioelectric medicine practitioner and the owner of the Boxy Wellness Center in Idina. So just before the break, you were sharing with us about all the different aspects of the protocols that you use for helping people with macular regeneration in your clinic. And one of the things that we haven't talked about yet is light therapy. So help us to understand what light therapy is and how it's used with the macular regeneration.

 

[00:35:15.050] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Sure. So light therapy in general is when you pick up a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum, whether it's visible light or invisible light. But it's all considered light to trigger a particular effect in the body. So here we're talking about red or near infrared. And most of the time when we're treating the eyes, we're going to use near infrared just because it's invisible. You could use red, but it's pretty intense and hard to look at. So rather than having somebody have to struggle with the brightness of the light, we just moved to near infrared. It's invisible. There's no visual discomfort, but we get the same effect. There's a couple of things to understand about part of the process that's happening with the macular degeneration. So we've got a genetic component where you can have a genetic mutation that can trigger the cascade. You've got an inflammatory process going on that is part of the degenerative process. And then you have the build up of the Druzin, which I had mentioned. So the Druzin is really protein build up of protein. One of the proteins that builds up is beta amyloid, which is the same thing that builds up in Alzheimer's and dementia in the brain of Parkinson's, even.

 

[00:36:53.640] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Right. So we see that these things are not dissimilar, even though you wouldn't necessarily think that dementia and macular generation are related, they're essentially the same condition. It's the part of the nervous system that it's showing up in. So we have this build up of beta amyloid on the retina, and that's the Druzin that starts to block it. So we use light therapy in our brain health clinic. We use light therapy to treat Alzheimer's and dementia. We use it to treat Parkinson's. So there's a couple of ways that it works. Probably the number one positive impact of near infrared light is again, the increase of energy production that stimulates mitochondria to produce more ATP, which is energy. And if there's more energy, the body can use that to regenerate itself, to heal itself, to drive cellular metabolism. So more energy has many positive effects. We often think of it as like, I have more energy. It's like, oh, I'll go for a walk or I can work more. I get more work done. It's like, no, we're not talking about it in that way. Your cells have more raw material to work with to do what they do, which is life.

 

[00:38:24.090] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Right? The next one is interrupting the inflammatory cascade. Cytochrome C, oxidase. It interrupts the inflammatory process at that chromafore and can ratchet down the inflammatory process. Another big one is I'm going to get just geeky for a minute here. So it's all the colbid and the vaccines. We know more about mRNA than ever before. Right? Before, you couldn't say mRNA, Candi, anybody except the scientists would know what you're talking about. Right? So now all of us are familiar because we have the mRNA vaccines. Mrna is a transcription process. When a cell is making a replica of itself, it's going to make a replica of the DNA. The RNA process is what makes the copy. The mRNA is error checking. So with near infrared light, we can stimulate. We can optimize the mRNA process. So when a cell makes a copy of itself in the presence of near infrared, it will make a better copy of itself. It can downplay the genetic influence and minimize the genetic influence of a mutation. This is not a small thing in a degenerative disease, especially if it's primarily genetically driven. If we can intervene in that and begin to minimize or reverse it.

 

[00:40:06.370] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

This is part of why we call it macular regeneration because you take somebody who has significant disease and move them along to a place where they have no diagnosable sign of the disease anymore. This is one of the tools that we use. So energy production, inflammation, the RNA process, we can interfere with the process that allows the beta amyloid to accumulate in the first place. So not only can we help the body absorb it and take it away, but we can interfere or optimize the process that is producing it. So it's simply amazing. If you look at the research on near infrared light, a 92nd treatment. So 90 seconds of near infrared light, you can see the positive benefits of that for up to 30 days. You can watch the occlusion of a macular degeneration lesion. You can see it shrinking for 30 days from one treatment. Absolutely amazing.

 

[00:41:15.230] - Candi Broeffle, Host

How many times do people come in a week for the light therapy?

 

[00:41:19.510] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

Sure. So my preference really, when we get into something like this, it's so safe, it's so effective, it's so affordable is that people do it at home. So we have a nasal laser. It's literally a laser. You stick up your nose just like it sounds. Like it sounds. And the red or near infrared light will penetrate into the eye and you'll get the effect of a treatment. We recommend people do it 30 minutes a day at home. They don't cost that much. Ours are about $175. We rent them. If somebody wants to try it and see if it's going to work, are they going to use it? Will they like it? But, yeah, that's one of the simplest forms to do it. We have other ways. We've got your infrared bulbs that a person can actually literally look into. They're very affordable. They're even less $60 and a person can have that. They can do their treatment at home three minutes a day. I mean, it's so effective, it's so simple. There's simply no reason not to try it.

 

[00:42:30.210] - Candi Broeffle, Host

I can't tell you how much it means to us to have you on the show again and to share this just remarkable program that you have for people. So thank you so much for being with us.

 

[00:42:40.000] - Guy Odishaw, Guest

As always, a delight. Candy, I look forward to our next opportunity.

 

[00:42:44.200] - Candi Broeffle, Host

There you go. Well, to learn more about the Bhakti Wellness clinic and to make an appointment, visit BhaktiClinic.com or call (612) 859-7709. You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on A. M. 950. The progressive voice of Minnesota, we are wishing for you a lovely day.