For a long time I’d felt that I needed to switch off for a while. To withdraw somewhere, be alone with myself and sort out my thoughts, or let them come, which, unfortunately, in everyday life I usually never make time for.
Given that it was winter and I could only take about a week’s holiday, a dark retreat seemed like the best option.
Given my close connection to the Kutná Hora area and my assumption that a more remote little village might be quieter than other places (which turned out to be true), I could hardly have chosen a different, better place than Lomec near Úmonín.
What was it like there?
I liked the place itself too: a large plot, where the lie of the land and the trees separate the little sanctuary huts, both visually and acoustically, from the main road, which isn’t very busy anyway. So even the outside made a positive impression on me, as did Tomáš, who showed me into the huts when I arrived and explained how everything works.
Inside, the huts are practical, the space is just right, and they still smell of wood. Only the bed was too soft for me. I was a bit worried about how the heating would cope in winter, but the electric heater works perfectly.
It’s up to you
The good thing is that you decide for yourself when to switch off the light, you’re not locked in, and so on. So it’s all up to you. The food was fine too, the portions were big; I’m a relatively big bloke, but I couldn’t even eat it all.
The retreat showed me what I need to deal with
I’ll admit that I didn’t really find out much about the dark retreat in advance or train for it in any way. And everything was fine. Well, to be honest, apart from the fact that each day felt longer and longer to me, so a week was just right for me. Every day I did some physical exercise and also tried to meditate. That didn’t really work for me, though.
The whole week my thoughts kept drifting to just one topic, but, as I only realised with hindsight, that was exactly the topic I really needed to deal with.
So, to sum up, I liked the retreat and it was useful for me.
Thank you, Lenka and Tomáš, you’re doing a good thing and you’re doing it well!
