Pocket Dreamachine
Close your eyes and let light pulse at the pace of your brain's own rhythm. Colours and patterns appear behind your eyelids.
Hold the screen 20–30 cm from your closed eyes with brightness all the way up.
How to use it
- Set up the room.
Dim the lights, turn on Do Not Disturb and turn screen brightness to maximum.
- Get comfortable.
Sit or lie back. Prop the phone so the light faces your eyes from 20–30 cm away. For the flashlight, point the back of the phone at you and keep it at least 30 cm away.
- Close your eyes.
After you tap Begin you get a five-second countdown. Close your eyes before the light starts. The patterns only appear through closed eyelids.
- Let it unfold.
Breathe slowly and don't look for anything. Geometric patterns and colours usually build after a few minutes. Tap the screen at any time to stop.
Not for everyone. Flashing light can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy, often with no prior history. Stop at once if you feel dizzy, sick, or strange.
The original
In 1958 the painter Brion Gysin was on a bus in southern France when sunlight strobing through a row of trees filled his closed eyes with colour. With the mathematician Ian Sommerville he built the Dreamachine: a paper cylinder cut with slots, set on a record turntable at 78 rpm with a bulb hanging inside.
The spinning slots flicker at roughly 8 to 13 flashes per second, the same range as the brain's alpha waves when you rest with your eyes closed. This page does the same thing with your phone's light, with no turntable needed.