Red Light Therapy and Natural Family Planning

So, you’re trying to grow your family - maybe without the injections, the endless monitoring, or the pressure to “just do IVF.”

Maybe IVF doesn’t align with your values.
Maybe the cost simply isn’t an option.
Or maybe you have done IVF - and it was a distressing, painful, disappointing experience that you’re still trying to make sense of.

You are not alone.

Whatever path you’ve taken to get here, if you’re now craving a gentler, more body-honoring approach to fertility, let’s talk about a quiet little therapy that’s getting a lot of attention, for good reason.

It’s called red light therapy, or photobiomodulation (PBM), and it’s giving a whole new kind of hope to women who want to support their natural fertility without compromising their values, their peace, or their bank account.

You're Already Doing the Hard Things

If you’ve ever tracked your cervical mucus and texted your partner “now” like your uterus is the foreman on a construction site, you’re already showing up.
You’ve maybe got charts, apps, and the Fertility Friday podcast playing on your walks. You’re paying attention to your body, even when it doesn’t feel like it’s cooperating. (Listen to my interview about light therapy on the Fertility Friday podcast here).

So what if there was something you could add to all that intentional effort, something evidence-based, non-invasive, and deeply supportive of the cycle you’re already tracking?

That’s where red light therapy comes in.

The Science (Made Friendly)

Red light therapy isn’t about woo or “energy vibes.” It’s grounded in solid cellular science. It works by delivering specific wavelengths of light to your tissues, usually in the 800 to 1060 nm range, where it stimulates your mitochondria to produce more ATP (the fuel your cells run on) and a huge cascade of other positive effects for your reproductive health.

Why does that matter for fertility?

Because most women with fertility struggles, whether it’s endometriosis, PCOS, recurrent implantation failure, or just the unexplained kind that makes you want to scream - have one thing in common: inflammation.

PBM Helps by:

• Reducing inflammation - so your reproductive system can actually do what it’s designed to do.

• Increasing blood flow to the ovaries and uterus - bringing oxygen and nutrients to the areas that matter most.

• Supporting a receptive endometrial lining - so when fertilization happens, implantation has the best shot.

• Improving mitochondrial health - which plays a huge role in egg quality, hormone production, and overall cellular function and so much more.

And no, it doesn’t hurt (it’s nothing like laser hair removal). It’s gentle, deeply relaxing, and feels more like a quiet pause in your day than a medical treatment. Laser treatments take about 25 minutes.

Can’t access professional laser fertility treatments in your community? A couple of well-selected home devices may be helpful. Here’s my recommended devices for home use.

What If You’ve Already Tried “Everything”?

Maybe you’ve taken the supplements. You’ve cleaned up your diet. You’ve done acupuncture, castor oil packs, warm socks, and said no to iced drinks for months.

And maybe you’ve even done IVF, hoping with every fiber of your being that this was the cycle that would bring you your baby.

But it didn’t. And now you’re feeling emotionally and physically depleted, trying to piece yourself back together, one day at a time.

Red light therapy isn’t a miracle cure. But it is a tool.
A gentle, research-backed tool that can meet you exactly where you are, and support your body in doing what it was made to do.

For Catholic Women Navigating Fertility

If you're Catholic, this journey can come with added layers, of discernment, of prayer, and often, of quiet confusion. You may have heard that IVF or other forms of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) are “not ideal” in the Church, but never really understood why.

Here’s the thing: most Catholics don’t realize that ART is actually not accepted by the Church, not out of judgment or cruelty, but out of reverence for the dignity of life and the sacredness of the marital union.

That can feel confusing and even isolating when you’re longing for a child. And while this teaching can feel deeply challenging in the face of infertility, it’s rooted in a profound respect for human life at every stage. Many people don’t know that during IVF, multiple embryos are often created, and some are frozen indefinitely, destroyed, or discarded simply because they’re not considered “viable” or “perfect” enough.

That’s a heartbreaking reality, especially for those who believe that every human life is sacred from the moment of conception.

But here’s the good news - there are ways to support your fertility that are fully aligned with Catholic teachings. Natural Family Planning. Charting. Creighton. Napro. Prayerful surrender. And now, emerging options like photobiomodulation, which work with the body - not around it.

Red light therapy isn’t a replacement for faith, it’s a support to it. A tool that honors the body as it was created.

It Aligns with Your Values

If you’re practicing Natural Family Planning, or just trying to conceive without overriding your body’s natural rhythms, you’ll be happy to know that PBM fits beautifully into that framework.

No artificial hormones. No suppression. No interventions that feel misaligned with your beliefs.
Just light, energy, and support.

It’s like a loving nudge to your system, not a shove.

And if you're already deep into charting, tracking mucus changes, this fits right into your toolkit.

If you’ve been dismissed, discouraged, or disillusioned by your fertility journey, please know that there is still room for hope.

Red light therapy isn’t hype. It’s science, gently applied. And it just might be the next right step for your healing, your hormones, and your hope.

You’re not broken. You’re not behind. You’re walking a different path, and it’s one worth honoring, every step of the way.

If you’re curious whether red light therapy is right for you, reach out. I’d love to walk you through what it looks like, what the research says, and how it might support you, whether you’re just starting out or finding your way after IVF.

There’s still so much possibility ahead.

Tracy