Can Red Light Therapy Really Recharge Your Body in Just 20 Minutes?

Keeping the “LIVE” in Alive!

Every Wellness Wednesday, I invite you to meet someone who’s helping us all keep the “LIVE” in alive. Sometimes it’s a doctor. Sometimes it’s a scientist. Sometimes it’s an entrepreneur—or someone who’s simply discovered a better way to live. This week…I found myself seeing red…and it never felt so good.

If you’ve been hearing all the buzz about red light therapy, you’re not alone. It’s one of today’s fastest-growing wellness trends, with people exploring it to support recovery, boost energy, healthier skin, and overall well-being.

Naturally, I had to find out what all the excitement was about.

So, I recently sat down with one of the most fascinating women I’ve met along the way—Jessica Chichester. I met her at a pals outdoor backyard party about a year ago. She brought up red light therapy then and talked a lot about what she knew about healing the body naturally. I made a mental note to follow back up with her. Took me a year. Oh well.

Peter and Jessica “Power Princess” Scofield-Chichester ( above) are Stamford, CT natives and the Founders of Hope Healing Oasis in Stamford, Connecticut. They share a passion to help their community become and stay healthy. 

My backyard conversation with Jessica was not typical and this isn’t your typical spa.

It’s a wellness playground filled with cutting-edge therapies designed to help your body do what it naturally wants to do…heal itself.

As IS typical on my show – besides sharing interesting information  – there are always a couple of laughs!

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

Before we got into the red light therapy stuff Jessica casually mentioned she’s taking a group to Ecuador for an ayahuasca retreat. 

I know a little bit about that stuff from a close pal who’s into it and I blurted out…

“All the psychedelics everybody thinks their grandkids are on…but instead it’s them!”

We both cracked up.

I also told her I really wished she had a wellness car wash. 

You’d shuffle in feeling completely exhausted…

…and twenty minutes later come flying out the other side like a rocket ship!

Could really speed things up. Somebody should seriously create that.

Meet This Week’s Guest

Jessica’s story is remarkable.

She battled depression as a young woman, discovered holistic health while working in a health food store, went on to become one of the strongest women in America. Jessica is a Hall-of-Fame Powerlifter!, a former fitness model, instructor and teacher. Her career in health and fitness spans over 20 years, with multiple certifications and degrees. She has comprehensive knowledge in holistic remedies and other non-traditional methods that she introduces to the community, HHO and its members.and eventually reinvented herself after a career-ending injury.

Today she’s helping others improve their health through therapies focused on energy, recovery, and whole-body wellness.

One of my favorite things she said was:

“People think they’re supposed to stay who they are. That’s such a boring lie.”

I absolutely loved that.

Because isn’t that true for all of us?

No matter our age or stage of life, we always have permission to reinvent ourselves.

What I Learned

Jessica explained why therapies like red light therapy, infrared saunas, cold plunges, and other wellness technologies are attracting so much attention.

Her philosophy is refreshingly simple:

Your body already knows how to heal.
Sometimes it just needs the right environment.

She also explained that red light therapy uses concentrated wavelengths of light similar to beneficial sunlight—but without harmful UV exposure. While research is still evolving, studies suggest it may support cellular energy production, muscle recovery, skin health, and overall wellness.

Whether you’re brand new to these therapies or already curious about biohacking, Jessica made the science surprisingly easy to understand.

I walked away thinking less about machines…and more about giving our bodies every opportunity to do what they were designed to do.

Debbie’s Debservation

I think one of the biggest wellness breakthroughs isn’t a machine…

It’s giving yourself permission to become a new version of yourself.

Jessica reinvented herself more than once.

Maybe that’s the real secret to longevity.

Keep growing.

Keep learning.

Keep changing.

Because the minute we think we’ve arrived…

…we stop living.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m planning to stay wonderfully curious for a very long time.

This Week’s Keeping the “LIVE” in Alive! Challenge

Try one thing this week you’ve never tried before to improve your health.

Maybe it’s visiting a wellness center.

Maybe it’s relaxing in an infrared sauna.

Maybe it’s trying red light therapy.

Or maybe it’s simply spending twenty peaceful minutes outside soaking up some sunshine.

Whatever you choose, give yourself permission to explore something new.

Your body—and your mind—just might thank you.

Catch the Full Conversation

Jessica Chichester Founder of Haute Healing Oasis shares her remarkable personal journey, explains why energy matters more than most of us realize, and offers a fascinating look inside today’s world of wellness technologies.

You may leave thinking exactly what I did…

“Where’s that wellness car wash when I need it?”

I know I did.

Until next Wellness Wednesday…

Keep that “LIVE” in Alive!

Best,

Debbie Nigro

PS: Catch Wellness Wednesday and join me in real time for “Keeping the LIVE in Alive!” on WGCH Radio in the NY/ CT area 11-12 noon EST or listen live from anywhere at WGCH.com.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: 

And now back to the Debbie Nigro Show. Okay, rock and roll. Hi, everybody. I’m Debbie Nigro. This is Wellness Wednesday, keeping the living alive. Gosh knows we’re trying here, really trying here. So I just wanted to take a minute here on something that’s been very much on my mind and it’s red light therapy. I started to tell you earlier that I had met this fascinating woman at a friend’s home about a year or so ago. We were sitting around talking. She’s gorgeous, smart, very eclectic, like major, she was a former, like major weightlifter She’s got this kickbutt body But the brains and the unusual thinking to have her open up what’s called hot healing oasis in Stanford, Connecticut It’s just not to be believed.

01:05

So I wanted to introduce you to Reverend. Dr. Jessica Chichester and I want to talk to her because I said I would have her on the show I want to know about everything she’s doing at this amazing place. She has in Stanford, Connecticut. Hello there what do I call you Reverend? Jessica what am I telling you? Jess, Jessie, Jessica. Jessie. What’s wrong with you? Jess, Jesse, Jessica. Jessie. We finally got it together. We’ve been trying really hard to do this, but we have both busy schedules, and you’re traveling a lot. What are you doing traveling around? Where are you going? I know. I just came back from a month in Thailand. It was amazing. And then now, in 10 days, we’re taking a group to Ecuador to do ayahuasca and all the psychedelics you think your grandkids are on but they’re not. Oh my gosh, you are a higher being than me, you know that right?

01:53

I don’t know. Yes, you are a higher being than me. We have to swim upstream. So where did this all start? I mean, give me a little background for the audience about you, the weight lift, like who are you before you got to this opening in this area in Connecticut with this Haunt Healing Oasis, come on. Yeah, so I’m born and raised in Stanford, just the girl trying to find her way in the world, right? Kind of like an Ariel story, right? What’s our place in the world? So really I got into Holistic health when I was a kid. I was really depressed. Then I got a job at the health food store. Long story short, it changed my life. I started getting to vitamins, supplements, yoga, all of this. Started going to the bookstore, reading books on quantum science, all of metaphysics, and realized that healing and my healing from depression was a 360 journey. It wasn’t just in body, but it was in body, mind, and spirit. So I became just, I mean, I’m a total Sagittarius, like a natural learner. I’m very curious. I love everything health and wellness because really health is wealth, right?

03:02

So from there, I got super focused. And when I was in college, I became a pre Olympic hammer thrower. After that, I became, long story short, one of the top 10 strongest women in the world. At one point, I was the strongest woman in the US Stop there. Stop there. You were the strongest woman in the United States. I was. I had a Moment in time where I was I really was I was going for the world record in the deadlift too. So when people think of I was a powerlifter, so like a true weightlifter, not a bodybuilder with a bikini going on stage and saying, Hey, I just need another man to judge me, you know, like, truly lifting heavy weights. Yeah. And so you know, I really, I did it because it kept me out of trouble. Just like you on your birthday weekend, right? I was drinking and partying way too much and I needed a little bit of discipline and I had a passion for it and it gave me energy but when I was done with my career weightlifting I had 300 pounds fall on my face. Crushed my face.

04:04

What? Whoa, Oh, my God. Yeah, now he’s not my boyfriend anymore, my spotter. Obviously. Obviously, he had a go. He had to go. But yeah, I crushed my face, and then I still went on to, you know, attempting to break the world records. And I met my husband at the time, and I was like, you know what? This isn’t fun anymore. Like, life needs to be filled with challenges, but you also need to have fun. And so I just kind of gave up that identity, and I said, well, you know, like Madonna, I was like, what’s the next phase of my life? You need to stop there. Who am I now? Yeah, wait. You need to stop there. Stop there for a second because you just said something that a lot of people need to feel more comfortable with. You gave up your old identity and now you have a new identity.

04:50

And that is just fine. Yeah. But it’s not easy. No. Because people always think they’re supposed to be who they are to be. Wow, it’s such a boring lie. Yeah. It’s boring. Boring lie. It is so boring. Like, we’re in this life to be adventurous and to try different things. So, like, the same energy that propelled me into the Hall of Fame is the same energy that I used to destroy myself when I was a kid and become an addict. And that’s still the same energy that I used to create my wellness center. So, it’s really like what Bruce Lee says, you know, where.

05:26

Our focus goes, our energy flows. I mean, this is where it is. And actually, Peter and I ended up creating this wellness center that’s all based on energy energy, frequency, and vibration. So, all the services that we have there are working with your body’s own natural energy to awaken healing in your body. What does that mean? So, we have 12 different services, such as like infrared sauna, cold plunge, red lights, something called Biocharger, which uses voltage, frequencies, light therapy, all of this jazz, ionic detox, slip bath. You know, ionic detox, foot bath, but all of these devices have over 20 years of international service, international research, research, thank you. I’m like service, what am I talking about? Research, you know, but they’re servicing our body, right? And so they’re awakening our body’s own natural healing responses. All right. What science is finding now is like our body is made of energy. Right? It’s the energy that gets you on the radio. It’s the energy that gets us to work. It’s the lack of energy that makes us exhausted at night and wants to overeat. It’s the same energy or lack of energy, and our cells can get charged like battery packs.

06:42

And so all these different services are hitting on different pathways in your body to help charge up your ATP, which is your energy signals in your body, and also to help detox you. Wow, I want to know about red light therapy. Focus on that for one minute as a start, because there’s many things you can speak to, but that one is a top of mind. Yeah, so that’s why, Deb, you loved the red light, because when you went in it and you saw it, your eyes, kind of like a deer in headlights, got like super attracted. And we are as human beings attracted to the light and all red light therapy, right? We’re attracted to the light. We need the sun. We go outside. We’re healthier. We’re like a if we don’t have the sun, we’re like a flower that’s wilting and dying. Like a wilted?

07:31

Yep. Our vitamin D goes down. Our mood goes down. All of our hormonal functions go down. Our detox pathways, all of it tanks. That’s why, you know, Denise like loves the sun so much, right? Right. So we feel alive in the sun. And so all red light therapy is just like infrared saunas. It’s like a condensed, power packed version of the healing rays in the sun. Wow, without the tan. Exactly. And what’s happening is that there’s every, so there’s red light therapy, right? That’s like a blanketed name. Okay. But there’s different frequencies of red light therapy.

08:11

So, like Denise’s home unit is going to probably be, I’ll just say it’s 97, 99 I can say that it’s at a different frequency than the red light therapy at Hope. Okay. Because different red light therapy has different, it’s like a different medical grade. Okay, right. Hope healing is, I said hot, it’s Hope Healing Oasis in Stan. Oh, hot, tomato, But it’s, you’ve got a lot of advanced biohacking stuff going on there, and that’s a big word that people are like, oh, I want to biohack and live till, you know, forever. Yeah. So when somebody comes there and, Has their first entree to like, okay, what do I do first? You know, what do I hack first in my body? How do they know and who steers them and how does everybody know how much of each thing they need? That’s a really good question.

09:01

So, number one it’s a lot simpler than that. Like, just it’s a lot simpler than that, right? Most people have no freaking clue what’s happening, right? Yeah. So, most people come in here to on just like an in just like an infrared sauna. At this point, most people know what a sauna is, then they have an understanding of what an infrared sauna is. So, an infrared sauna is actually seven times more detoxifying than a traditional sauna. So, 30 minutes in there is equal to a four mile run. You’re burning up to 600 calories. In 30 minutes, it’ll do more things than sitting in a traditional sauna for over four hours.

09:37

Who knew that? So, most people, yeah, so most people come in there for an infrared sauna. Or if they’re like, oh, I’m curious, they come in there for the HOTE experience, which they get to try a couple of different services that we have at a good rate and modified time just to feel what it feels like to be in the space. When someone comes in we do an intake with them. So we’ll sit down, kind of go over your health goals, where you are, what’s going on, how’s your sleep, all of that jazz, and then we’ll direct people in a certain capacity. And then, usually, like I call us a healing playground, I mean, because you know, we’re not going a great adventure right now. Yeah, sounds like a fun playground today. Banged up, you know, forget it. A great adventure is like you said, taking out the car seat, it’s not happening, not happening, it’s not happening.

10:24

So, what is happening is a healing playground of HHO, Healing Oasis. And so when you’re, most people come in on a membership and with the membership like we’ll tell you, okay, these are some services you can try. We’ll give you a couple of services free, but you have access to all the devices that we have. So you can try things. We gift you some sessions. And then it’s a healing playground and then you’re guiding your self intuitively. You have a brief understanding of what’s going on with your body, but you’re guiding yourself into your own healing journey. So now it’s not a doctor prescribing something. Now we’re putting the onus back on you. Okay, Deb, this is what’s going on. You told me, right? These are some services I recommend. There’s other services that work well. How do you feel after doing these, right? Which ones do you like?

11:14

And then later on, you intuitively kind of pull out different cards, right? You pull out different services, and either way, your body is going to, your body wants to heal itself let you know. It wants to heal itself. Yeah, your body is going to let you know, and our bodies want to heal themselves naturally. I just have to tell you, Jessica. You’re really good at this. You are selling me on this. This is amazing. You are so knowledgeable. I have a passion for it. Yeah, I can feel the passion. I was looking at the footage. You saved my life. I see this. I’m almost the old you who needs to be saved. My gosh. I wish you had a car wash version where you could just go in and get a little bit of everything, come out the other side. Yeah, well, we do. You don’t have to be in there long.

11:56

You can literally come into a session and it’s 20 minutes. It’s not an all day thing. These services are, it’s like, they’re so potent and the results are so concentrated that, like, really, the infrared sauna is the longest service that you have. Yeah, got it. But in general, you know, it’s 20 minutes. 20 minutes for a session. That’s about what it is. I’m laughing to myself, imagining if you did a video of people walking in all draggy, you know, and then as they’re coming out, they’re all like bursting, blowing out the doors. They’re all full of energy. People are like taking off like spaceships outside in the parking lot. You mean, that would be a good sales pitch? Because that’s what you’re saying is happening. Yeah, so what’s happening in your brain, right? Neurologically, what’s happening is your brain is releasing what’s called dose, like dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. What the hell are those? They’re all your happiest hormones. Or your love hormones, the things the hormones that get released after you have sex, have a great meal, go on vacation and buy your favorite thing. That’s what gets released. So you know, this need to overeat or to overextend ourselves or to ruminate in thought, right?

13:08

It changes the frequency of your body, these services. So it’s not like you have to force yourself to be in meditation and not know how to do it for a long time. No, it’s literally changing the cellular expression of your body. I have to cut you off there, believe it or not. We’re coming to the end of the show. But not before I thank you very much, Jessica Chichester. And I want everybody to just check out Hot, Hot. How am I saying it? Hot Healing Oasis. Stanford’s premier destination for advanced biohacking and integrative wellness. This has been a great education on all the things you guys know that we need to learn more about optimizing our own body’s performance and longevity. Thank you. I love you. Have a great rest of your day. Enjoy your trip. Love you too. Enjoy. Bye.