Photobiomodulation: The Ultimate Brain Upgrade | Francisco Cidral

On this episode of the Far Out with Faust podcast, neurophysiologist, naturopathic doctor and integrative medicine expert Dr. Francisco Cidral expands our minds with the latest brain enhancing technologies.

Dr. Cidral has authored more than 30 A1 (A1 = Highest Grade) scientific publications, as well as several books and is a major contributor to the field of integrative and complementary therapies, with an emphasis on low level light therapy, aka photobiomodulation.

He is the Co-founder and Associate Professor of the Laboratory of Experimental Neuroscience
(University of Southern Santa Catarina - UNISUL - Brazil). For the past decade, Dr. Cidral has been living in the USA and working on the scientific research and development of innovative health and wellness technology that promotes physical and mental vitality and optimization
through his Scientifica Consulting Business.

Dr. Cidral is one of the most accomplished scientists we’ve ever encountered — and it all started with a chronic shoulder injury that was cured through auricular acupuncture. This sent him on a path to learn everything he possibly could about alternative healing modalities and technologies that affect both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system. 

If you’ve ever heard of laser acupuncture, low level light therapy, LED therapy, far infrared energy (we could go on), Dr. Cidral has not only studied it — he’s the authority.

Through his pioneering work with transcranial photobiomodulation, Dr. Cidral was tapped (couldn’t resist) by Dr. Patrick Porter, biohacking guru and founder of BrainTap (did you catch him on episode 13?) for an ongoing collaboration. Dr. Cidral currently serves as the Science Officer of BrainTap, which focuses on Audio-visual Brain Entrainment and Brain Health.

Dr. Cidral also authored a chapter in Photobiomodulation in the Brain by Michael Hamblin, PhD., the pioneering researcher from Harvard.

WARNING: it’s about to get geeky. We’re taking a deep dive down into the science behind photobiomodulation, talking oxidative stress, 40 hertz light pulses (aka gamma waves), ATP and photon acceptors. Stay tuned, because Dr. Cidral translates these complex concepts for us mere mortals. We promise, you’ll feel smarter. 

The takeaway? Low light therapy improves sleep, reduces stress, slows aging and releases endorphins hundreds of times more powerful than morphine. Um, yes please.

Faust reminds us that the point of living, after all, is to experience joy. So listen along as these two spend time dissecting stress — which is not the problem, by the way. We’ll tell you what is, and what you can do about it today. 

Maybe you’ve heard about the reptilian brain, that part of the brain that can’t distinguish the difference between our perception and reality. You don’t want to miss when Dr. Cidral illuminates exactly how meditation and mindfulness overcomes its primitive shortcomings, explaining the three stages of enlightenment.  

Catch Faust’s true confession about car rides home from the casino with his parents. It’s a comical take on the typical blame game ideology that so many of us are stagnating in. It’s time we take responsibility for our own pain — to realize that we’re the ones behind the curtain pulling the strings. 

Stay till the end to hear the bombshell that Faust drops about neurons — and where you can find them. Spoiler alert: they’re not just in your brain.

Dr. Francisco takes us really far out at the end, diving into quantum physics and its relation to Taoist philosophy (listen to podcast 51 with Dr. Barry for more). He describes a mind-blowing experiment about our innate individual power to affect the energy of the vast universe.

It’s time to get conscious together — we already know the way.