1 May 2024 – Today (1st May) Sean Ono Lennon and The John Lennon Estate have partnered with the consciousness-expanding phone app, Lumenate, to exclusively release nine reimagined Meditation Mixes of John Lennon's classic 1973 peace-and-love anthem, 'Mind Games’.

The newly transformed mixes have been designed (in combination with the frequencies of light from the Lumenate app) to put the listener in a relaxed, meditative state, to help guide your mind into deeper states of consciousness.

Various sound design techniques and processes have been applied to the original 1973 two-inch multitrack recordings, and in some cases have been enhanced with additional instrumentation from producer Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon.

LUMENATE + 9 JOHN LENNON 'MIND GAMES' MEDITATION MIXES

The Lumenate app uses the flashlight on the back of one's smartphone strobed at research-driven frequencies onto a person's closed eyes to neurologically guide them into a state of consciousness between that of deep meditation and psychedelics.

Each of the nine Meditation Mixes has been paired with a unique, deeply immersive light sequence, using carefully selected flicker frequencies to accompany the mind-and-mood-altering sound. These singular, mind-altering sequences elevate the musical journey, deepen the sense of relaxation, and allow users to see, hear and feel the music like never before.

The 'Mind Games' Meditation Mixes launch today, 1st May as part of Mental Health Awareness Month. The experience is available for free, exclusively via the Lumenate app.

"I'm very happy to be working with Lumenate on this release for Mental Health Awareness Month," said Sean Ono Lennon. "I think our Mind Games project is fun, meaningful, and potentially mind-expanding. I have been using theLumenate app for my own personal meditations since it launched, and have had many profound experiences. My father was famously into meditation. I remember trying the 'flicker machine' he kept in the bedroom, which is what first introduced me to the idea of stroboscopic brain wave induction. I thought it made sense to combine the music of 'Mind Games' with the science of Lumenate. I really hope people enjoy the results as much as I have."

"It's been such a privilege working with Sean and The Lennon Estate on this exciting collaboration," said Tom Galea, Lumenate's co-founder. "The journeys it takes you on are so deeply relaxing and emotive, providing a uniquely powerful canvas for exploring your mind. I can't wait for the world to experience it, it's already had such a meaningful impact on me personally."

THE 'MIND GAMES' MEDITATION MIXES

The 'Mind Games' Meditation Mixes create their own space while maintaining firm, authentic roots in John Lennon's original recording of the original song. Each of the nine mixes has been radically altered, slowed down and extended, ranging from 5 to 10 to upwards of 33 minutes, allowing for the musical soundtrack to wash over the listener and provide a relaxing, immersive, deep listening and meditative experience. Four of the tracks are presented as Binaural versions that each focus on different types of brain waves: Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Theta.

Dubbed 'Mind,' 'Space,' 'Spirit,' and 'Love,' these tracks feature a Binaural Beat, an auditory illusion created within the brain when the left and right ears hear two slightly different frequencies whose difference is perceived as a new frequency which can activate different brain patterns for scientifically proven therapeutic effects. Beta waves occur when thinking, Delta waves are produced when completely relaxed in deep sleep, Gamma waves are associated with high levels of thought and focus, and Theta waves are produced while sleeping or daydreaming.

MIND GAMES

John Lennon completed his song 'Mind Games' after reading the 1972 book 'Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space,' written by Robert Masters and Jean Houston. The book offered exercises to help people train their minds to focus on positivity by looking inward. The song was the title track of the album of the same name. A breakthrough album from him in which he employed the cream of the crop of New York session musicians—Mind Games is a fan favourite that remains a cult classic ever since its first release on October 29, 1973.

Yoko Ono Lennon, said: 'John was trying to convey the message that we all play mind games. But if we can play mind games, why not make a positive future with it – to be a positive mind game? 'Mind Games' is such an incredibly strong song. At the time, people didn't quite get the message because this was before its time. Now, people would understand it. I don't think in those days people knew they were playing mind games anyway.'

The 'Mind Games' Meditation Mixes are produced by Sean Ono Lennon, mixed and engineered by Sam Gannon with additional recording engineered by Scott Hollingsworth.

LUMENATE

Launched in 2021, Lumenate has been on a mission to revolutionise the mental well-being space by making impactful altered states of consciousness more accessible than ever before. Though many are aware of the benefits of meditation, and the emergent field of psychedelic therapy, due to barriers of cost, time and legality, these benefits are inaccessible for most people. Lumenate is here to change that, allowing users to reach these deep, explorative states instantly and effortlessly using only a smartphone.

Golden Globe-winning actress, Rosamund Pike, is the company's Creative Director and voice of the app.

Lumenate has worked alongside leading psychedelic researchers and musicians to create a series of experiences that help users to fully immerse in the present moment, reducing stress, ruminative thoughts, and brain chatter, and also from this mindset gain a new perspective on impactful topics. 93% of regular app users report a greater ability to feel present in the moment when using Lumenate with 94% reporting a positive impact on their mental wellbeing.

The state that Lumenate helps one enter has been shown to induce visual effects of comparable intensity as induced by psychedelic substances,' according to Dr. Timo Schmidt of Freie Universität Berlin, an expert on flicker light simulation (FLS) and lead researcher of Lumenate's Berlin study. As demonstrated by research published this year from Schmidt, this flicker-induced state of consciousness also 'significantly enhances the listener's emotional response to music', especially 'joyful activation.'

'We have explored how very simplistic flicker light simulation can intensify the emotional response to music. This effect should become much stronger when one synchronises the FLS with the music, as Lumenate is currently doing,' said Schmidt. 'We demonstrated that flicker light stimulation can increase the emotional response to music with approximately half the effect size of psilocybin,' adding, 'It seems that the signals from the eyes are not only processed in the visual part of the brain, but are also having effects on broader brain function. Interestingly, this seems to be a mechanism shared with psychedelics.'

Though Lumenate has pushed the boundaries of what's possible, combining the latest scientific research with the latest mobile technology, the use of flicker to induce powerful altered states of consciousness is nothing new. In fact, it arguably dates back to the start of mankind and the deep relaxation triggered by seeing the flicker of the flame. Flicker however first emerged in the cultural sphere through Brion Gysin's Dreamachine which caught the imagination of the beat generation. It captured the minds of many, including Aldous Huxley, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, David Bowie and many more. John Lennon himself had an early 'flicker machine' complete with goggles on his bedside table in New York, which allowed him and Yoko to effortlessly tap into these deeply meditative states.