New at Solāis: Targeted Red Light Support (Done Carefully)

Infrared sauna is still the foundation at Solāis.

It supports the body in a whole-system way — circulation improves, lymph begins to move, muscles soften, and the nervous system regulates.

It’s one of those inputs that tends to ripple. People come in thinking it’s a physical thing and leave noticing changes in sleep, mood, cravings, pain patterns, or stress tolerance. Once you’ve seen that enough times, it starts to make sense.

And it’s exactly why I’ve been cautious about adding anything new.

A note on the wellness space (and why the details matter)

The wellness space moves quickly.

Something becomes popular and suddenly it’s everywhere — bundled into packages, stacked into long sessions, marketed as though more input automatically means more benefit. Red light has been one of those.

I’ve also noticed how easily language starts to blur, devices get combined, claims get broader. When a modality becomes a trend, nuance can quietly slip.

This isn’t about judgement. It’s just something I’ve observed.

For me, research has to be the starting point and that usually shows up less in what is offered and more in how it’s used.

Not everything benefits from being longer or broader or folded into one big experience. With light therapy especially, the details matter: distance, intensity, dose, and what you’re actually trying to support.

That’s why, if red light is offered at Solāis, it isn’t positioned as a “full-body experience”. It’s a short, targeted support for one area before your infrared sauna session — calm, purposeful, and easy to understand.

Sometimes the most supportive thing you can do is not add more, but be more precise.

Why red light, and why now

Infrared sauna helps a lot but some areas hold on longer than others.

Even when someone is clearly relaxing and regulating in the sauna, there can be one spot that stays guarded: a neck, a shoulder, a joint that keeps bracing.

That’s where targeted red light can be a useful added support. Not as a replacement for infrared, but as a small, local layer before the whole-body session.

You’ll see red light built into many infrared saunas now, and I understand the appeal. It sounds like a natural pairing. But it isn’t always delivered in a way that reflects how red light therapy is typically applied in research — close to the body, targeted, and appropriately dosed.

Which is where our protocol comes in.

The principles that shaped how we use it

Proximity matters.

In photobiomodulation research, a lot of effective work has historically been done on local areas, often with the light source very close to or in contact with the skin, rather than across the whole system at a distance. The biggest systematic reviews of whole-body LED red light therapy note how scarce properly controlled whole-body studies are, and that many trials with actual benefits use targeted, skin-contact PBM devices. 

https://gembared.com/blogs/musings/review-of-full-body-red-light-therapy

That’s one reason I’m not interested in selling long, vague, full-body red light sessions. I’d rather offer something focused, close, and intentional.

Dose matters too.

Red light therapy isn’t “more minutes = more benefit”. Reviews of dosing show a growing consistency around a therapeutic window rather than ever-increasing exposure. Too little may do nothing, too much can lead to plateauing or even inhibitory responses in cells. 

https://gembared.com/blogs/musings/lower-doses-are-better?utm_source=chatgpt.com

So we keep it brief — a purposeful, short session around 10-15 minutes. 

Why it comes before the sauna

There’s another, quieter reason we place red light before heat.

Red Light therapy appears to work best when tissue is closer to its resting state. Once the body is heated, circulation changes rapidly and the optical properties of tissue shift. Research discussions around photobiomodulation note that warming tissue can reduce how efficiently red light penetrates and is absorbed at depth — particularly when the goal is local, cellular support rather than surface exposure.

In simple terms, heat can change how RLT behaves in the body.

So rather than layering it into a heated environment, we apply it first — briefly, locally, and without thermal load — and then allow the infrared sauna to do what it does best systemically.

It’s a small sequencing detail, but one that aligns more closely with how red light therapy is typically studied and applied, rather than how it’s often bundled in wellness settings.

What this looks like in practice

Targeted Red Light Support is an optional add-on offered before your infrared session.

It’s designed for one specific area — neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees — wherever you feel tension, soreness, or recovery needs a little extra support.

It’s short on purpose. Local on purpose. Offered because the research tends to point towards precision and clarity in application and because this side of the conversation doesn’t seem to be happening very often.

Booking it

If you’d like to include it, it’s now available to add on when booking:

Targeted Red Light Support (Pre-Infrared)

£10 · 10 minutes

£15 - 15 minutes

A small, considered addition, built around clarity, research, and a bit of restraint in a space that doesn’t always prioritise it.