Want To Take A Psychedelic Trip Without Drugs? There’s Now An App For That
Two UK inventors who have developed a way to induce a psychedelic or semi-psychedelic state using one of the most ubiquitous devices in today’s society: the smartphone.
The Lumenate app uses the phone’s flashlight to create stroboscopic light sequences that neurologically guide the user into an altered state of consciousness between deep meditation and classic psychedelics.
Tom Galea and Jay Conlon, the founders of Lumenate, they left the corporate world with a mission to help people live freer and more fulfilling lives.
a spark of inspiration could have a profound impact on a person’s life.
research how subconscious exploration could help facilitate such inspiration. But existing methods of exploring the subconscious, including years of mediation training or emerging psychedelic therapies, have significant barriers to accessibility.
- discussions with leading psychedelic experts
- EEG brain-scanning experiments
research-based method to use light and sound to guide the user’s brain into the desired state: when light is flashed in a specific way, it causes the neurons in the brain to react and fire in a synchronized rhythm that safely guides the brain into a deeply meditative, semi-psychedelic state of consciousness. The result is an instant and effortless way to explore your subconscious.
Lumenate’s original business plan relied on a prototype light and sound system for public group experiences.
The need for an accessible method of subconscious exploration seems even greater.
“We quickly realized that with mental health at the forefront of everyone’s minds, what we were developing could now be more relevant and genuinely helpful than ever before,” says Conlon.
Using carefully designed stroboscopic light sequences from the phone’s flashlight as experienced with the eyes closed, the app elevates the brain into a higher level of consciousness, as defined by an increase in neural signal complexity.
Increases in this metric have been strongly linked to the “expansion of consciousness in psychedelics such as LSD, while decreases are observed in states of reduced awareness such as sleep or when under anesthetic,” notes Galea.
Lumenate’s research also indicated a decrease in activity in a group of brain regions known as the default mode network, a key change observed in psychedelic studies and some forms of meditation. The change results in a diminished sense of ego and a heightened focus on the present moment.
Additionally, “we have seen that different parts of the brain start to communicate in novel ways, allowing, for example, an emotion or thought to be visually represented by color or shape,” Galea says.
Throughout the experience, the user is in complete control. The intensity of the experience can be varied by moving the phone or stopped instantly by turning the flashlight away.
“People typically report the visual experience, perceived with eyes closed, as flying effortlessly through a multi-dimensional kaleidoscope of colors,” he says. “Alongside this, almost all report some reduction in sense of body, ego and time.”