Welcome to the Functional and Integrative Medicine podcast. This podcast is all about exploring root cause medicine, showcasing the power of this approach, and inspiring other medical providers to follow this incredible path. I’m your host, Ginger Allen, and founder of Your Medical Liaison, a medical marketing agency working with medical providers since 2012.

My passion for root cause medicine and provider advocacy drives me to help medical providers who have incorporated functional and integrative medicine into their practices. So let’s dive in.

Phil Wilson, who is a pioneer in holistic health and a passionate force behind the Relax Sauna movement in the U.S. market.

With a background in mathematics and graduate studies at The Ohio State University, Phil made a radical pivot in 1970 toward natural healing, and he’s been blazing trails in the wellness world ever since. Long before it was mainstream, Phil was promoting fasting, herbal medicine, medicinal mushrooms, green powders, and oxygen therapies. But everything changed in 2002 when he discovered the Relax Far Infrared Sauna.

Instantly recognizing its potential, he devoted his life to sharing this technology and has since introduced its benefits to thousands at over 500 health conferences around the country. Phil believes the Relax Sauna is the most powerful wellness tool he’s ever encountered, combining cutting-edge science and profound healing potential. Under his leadership, Relax Sauna has become a trusted name in functional and integrative circles worldwide.

Get ready to hear from one of the most passionate, energetic, and experienced voices in natural health. Phil Wilson is on a mission to help people feel better, detox deeper, and reclaim their energy—one sauna session at a time.

Ginger: Welcome to the show, Phil.

Phil: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here, Ginger.

Ginger: We’re excited to have you on the show. You’re probably one of, if not the first—I think you are the first—no, you’re the second person that we’ve had talking about different types of equipment, different types of modalities that people can use in their functional and integrative medicine practices. So it’s exciting to have you on the show.

You know, the majority of our listeners are functional and integrative medicine providers, so they are people that might be interested in something like this. So I’m really excited to share your knowledge about this. So let’s dive in.

You have a fascinating journey from mathematics to natural health. Can you walk us through what led you into the world of holistic and functional wellness way back in the 1970s?

Phil: Well, it’s basically experience. I had an out-of-body experience. And then after that, I had a kundalini awakening, an energetic spinal awakening, where every cell in my body was filled with light and energy. My body chemistry totally changed after that, so I couldn’t eat normal food without feeling comatose.

As a mathematician, I was specializing almost like a child prodigy. I was very good at solving math problems no one else could solve. I was published in high school national magazines for solving math problems about four times my senior year. The joy of having this realization is I started applying that same problem-solving ability to uncovering all the beliefs we’ve been taught about what reality is. And that led me into holistic health.

As the body chemistry changes, that’s like a belief changing. You can’t eat certain foods anymore, so you have to tune in and discover what works. It becomes a whole process of discovery. I’ve done fasting—one day, three days, seven days, ten days—intermittent fasting, whole foods only, no processed foods, no refined sugar, no refined flour.

I’ve had no rigid rules. I’ve changed my diet 10 or 12 times. I’ve been vegan, vegetarian, eaten fish and fowl lightly, eaten more of it at times, and occasionally beef or pork, but not often. You have to tune into what your body needs as it changes.

I opened a health food store 45 years ago, and I’ve always considered myself essentially a health professional. I got into herbs, green powders in 1984, medicinal mushrooms, and other natural approaches.

Ginger: What kept you committed to these principles all these years?

Phil: Once you awaken, you’re awakened. This becomes what’s real to you. When you’ve experienced being outside the body and knowing you are not the body, it changes everything. Fear of death drops away, and you want to help others experience that same freedom.

Part of that freedom is emotional, mental, and physical purification of the body. It was automatic for me—I needed to purify my body so it would be easier to connect and have original thoughts. Like in the movie A Beautiful Mind—having one original thought.

When you’re quiet, meditating, or simply still, you begin to receive insights. I’ve been blessed to have hundreds of those kinds of insights.

When you get in the Relax Sauna, it feels almost like a physical version of that state—like basking in divine love. It grounds you, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, and creates real physiological changes.

What the sauna does is vibrate your water molecules. That’s powerful. It increases structured water in your body and charges your system with far infrared energy.

We are essentially far-infrared light beings. The human body resonates around 9.4 microns, and water around 8 microns. Dr. Sherry Rogers helped introduce far-infrared sauna therapy more widely in the early 2000s with her book Detoxify or Die. She used it with patients who had been failed by conventional medicine.

Far infrared light vibrates water molecules, weakens ionic bonds, and helps release toxins, gases, and heavy metals from the body.

Ginger: What made you realize this technology was different from other saunas?

Phil: I had another sauna before. It took 18 minutes to start sweating and about 55 minutes to feel like I had a good sweat.

Then I got a call from Taiwan. Their company had spent 10 years developing technology to filter out near-infrared and produce 100% pure far infrared between 7 and 14 microns using semiconductor technology.

That’s the difference.

Near-infrared and red light are useful—they stimulate mitochondria—but far infrared works at a deeper level. It vibrates water, increases structured water, detoxifies, and activates all major systems of the body: respiratory, endocrine, digestive, circulatory, lymphatic.

We’ve put around 150,000 people in the Relax Sauna at conferences and seen tens of thousands of immediate results—pain disappearing in minutes. That comes from parasympathetic activation and detoxification working together.

Ginger: Let’s talk about usage. What do you recommend?

Phil: Most saunas take 30 to 60 minutes total. The Relax Sauna preheats in seconds.

The best time is in the morning. Drink some water and get in right away. I usually do about a 20-minute session daily.

For practitioners, I recommend having patients do 5 to 7 minutes before any therapy—massage, chiropractic, lymphatic work—because it prepares the body to receive treatment.

Then, for detox, a 20 to 25 minute session is ideal.

Ginger: Can you explain the difference between infrared and far infrared?

Phil: Infrared light is divided into near, mid, and far. Red and near-infrared operate in the nanometer range and are good for mitochondrial stimulation.

Far infrared operates in the micron range, specifically 7 to 14 microns, which matches the body’s natural frequency. Because of that, the body absorbs it easily. It feels soft, warm, and deeply relaxing.

Most other saunas mix wavelengths, but the Relax Sauna delivers 100% far infrared, which is why it feels so different.

Ginger: What’s the cost range?

Phil: The standard sauna is about $1,700. The black model is about $2,300. The professional lamp is around $1,700, and the table lamp is about $350.

Ginger: And how long do they last?

Phil: Originally we said 10 to 20 years, but now we’re seeing some last up to 30 years. Even in heavy clinical use, they last many years.

Ginger: How can people learn more?

Phil: Website is relaxsaunas.com. Email is Phil@relaxsaunas.com. Phone is 626-200-8454.

Ginger: You can also use code Ginger25 for $100 off.

Thank you so much for being here today.