Category: Darkness therapy

Today our spruce tongue-and-groove boards arrived, so we were able to clad the inside walls of the northern sanctuary as well.

What we hope from this change is that when you walk along the walls, you won’t get a splinter.

The boards are lovely and smooth, pleasant to the touch, and they will fill your dark retreat with a beautiful scent of wood.

Next up are the eastern and southern sanctuaries, which we will manage on Saturdays when participants change over.

A few photos of the dark retreat sanctuary improvements

Since we’re “eco nutters”, as a friend of mine from primary school called us, we keep thinking up ways to run our dark retreats as ecologically as possible.

Wooden cabins for dark retreats

The first requirement is a cabin made of ecological materials, and 90% of that is wood. The cabins are entirely wooden from the floor right up to and including the roof. Each cabin is insulated with eco-friendly mineral wool 24cm thick, in 3 layers to prevent thermal bridges.

Heat recovery

Each cabin has ventilation with heat recovery. This heat recovery is up to 80% efficient, so even in the winter months no cold air flows into the cabin during ventilation; instead, the warmth from inside is used to heat the incoming air.

The heat recovery unit also has a timer, so that it doesn’t run all night (even by mistake).

Heating with a heat pump

To heat the cabins we use heat pumps with a coefficient of performance of up to 7, which in practice means that on a consumption of 200W they heat like a 1400W electric heater. The heat pumps can work down to -15 °C, so they can be used for heating even in winter. Now in January, consumption for heating is around 4kWh per day per cabin, which is an amazing result.

A bonus of heat pumps is that in summer they can run in reverse and cool, so even in summer heatwaves the temperature in the sanctuaries doesn’t exceed 22 – 24 °C.

Electricity for dark retreats from the Sun

Since December we have had a photovoltaic power plant up and running, which supplies 93% of the cabins’ electricity from the Sun. So heating, cooking and even hot water are overwhelmingly covered by green energy from the Sun. The plant should produce 10 MW of electricity a year, and whatever we don’t manage to use ourselves we send into the grid, wherever it’s needed 🙂

This brings one small limitation: the hot water in the cabins’ boilers is only heated when the Sun is shining, but we believe you’d rather take a shower in lukewarm water heated by the Sun than in hot water heated by coal. So far it’s been nice and sunny, so there’s hot water every day from the Sun alone.

Organic waste from participants

If participants leave any waste behind, such as packaging or unwanted toothbrushes, we always sort it.

If you don’t finish something, we have 2 dogs and some hens. If the dogs and the hens are already full, the organic waste goes onto our compost, which then turns into cucumbers or tomatoes in our garden. We never throw anything away.

Thank you for walking the green path with us, and we wish you all the best <3

P.S. The chimney is there because we heat our house with wood 🙂

When we started running dark retreats in 2013, our intention was to give participants the chance to be alone with themselves in a safe space, where no everyday obligations would disturb them and they would have time purely for themselves.

This time for yourself has a very positive effect: you get to know yourself better, and unwanted programmes and stuck emotions dissolve.

We have watched countless participants forgive their parents, partners and children. We have seen people arrive completely burnt out – top athletes and politicians, teachers, doorkeepers and cleaners alike.

We have seen such people leave after a week in the dark with shining eyes and a renewed appetite for life.

From the very start, interest in dark retreats was so enormous that, beyond our original plans, we built 2 more sanctuaries for dark retreats. One was added each year, so that you could have this amazing experience.

We regularly let participants into the dark over Christmas and New Year’s Eve too, so that every day was used and the cabins did not stand empty.

In the last year we have even been sharing the guiding with friends, so that we could go on holiday with our children while other participants could still go into the dark.

A dark retreat in freedom

All this time we have never had a fixed contribution for a dark retreat; it is up to each of you how much you contribute towards running the cabins.  From the start, we have made retreats possible for individuals, couples, visits, arrivals on any day of the week and at different times, to accommodate all of you as much as we could.

We believe that the most valuable things are freedom and love. Freedom, in our view, is what makes us human, and so we have always been against restrictions and rules of any kind.

Lately, however, a dark retreat has started to become more of an attraction than a path to self-knowledge, freedom and love, and that no longer sits right with us.

We don’t believe a dark retreat exists so that someone can wave a certificate in front of their colleagues at work, or go into the dark just to take selfies with a dark retreat sanctuary for “the ‘gram”.

A dark retreat for a week

Participants coming for 2 nights “to try it out” often blocked a whole week for someone who would have loved to take the whole week, but there was nothing free.

So we have decided to let into the dark only those participants who are serious about it. Those who want to undergo a dark retreat for themselves, for their own transformation, for their own self-knowledge.

You can still come alone or as a couple, you can fast, you can bring your own food, or we can provide vegetarian meals for you.

It is just that a dark retreat is now only possible in multiples of 7 nights, from Saturday to Saturday. So you are welcome to come for 7, 14, 21 and up to 49 nights, but always arriving on a Saturday and finishing on a Saturday.

That is why we ask those of you who want a dark retreat as an attraction or a trial, or who don’t feel ready for a week: please give it time and book later.

For a dark retreat you need an inner urge – that is how you will get the most out of the darkness.

After 5 years we set about renovating the Western Sanctuary, the very first one we built back in 2014 – in fact even before we built this little timber house of ours near Kutná Hora 🙂

Renovating the dark retreat sanctuary from the outside

Altogether the renovation took us 14 days and brought some big improvements.

Above all, we replaced the cladding on the west side of the cabin, as that side took the most punishment from wind and rain.

Every year wasps or hornets would build a nest under the cabin roof, so we sealed the vents under the roof with perforated tape. That way ventilation should carry on as before, but insects can no longer get in.

We have also ordered a new insulated front door, which should arrive during May.

The sanctuary has also had a fresh lick of paint 🙂

The interior space for a dark retreat

As this is a timber building made of vertical beams, it is braced with eco OSB board on the inside.

Because some participants travelled round and round along the interior walls in the dark, we lined the whole interior with new tongue-and-groove boards.

The bed has a new slatted base, and we have ordered a new natural futon mattress.

The partition wall between the bathroom and the living space had become home to quite a few ants. Since we don’t use any sprays, wood stains or the like, ants settled into the partition over the winter. They loved the polystyrene and had a maze of little tunnels in there. Interestingly, they didn’t like the wadding at all – only the polystyrene.

So we took the polystyrene out, let the ants crawl out outside, and only then took it to the recycling centre.

We wish the next participants in the Western Sanctuary a pleasant dark retreat 🙂

You will find more photos in the photo gallery.

Friends, a kind supporter of the darkness has donated 20 vouchers for couples’ massages for people coming on a dark retreat.

So, while stocks last, with every paid booking or order of a gift voucher we will add a voucher for a Thai couples’ massage for two people.

The massage voucher must be used by the end of 2018 at one of the Thajský ráj salons in Prague.

To get the voucher, write massage in the note below. We will let you know straight away whether there are still massage vouchers available.

Please note: all the massages have now been given away. We wish everyone a lovely, relaxing time.

You can book a dark retreat below

Next available dates

There are many different ways and places to do a dark retreat. Some people shut themselves away in a damp cellar with a blacked-out window, some take over the bathroom for a week, and others opt for, say, a deep cave.

All of these places, and others too, are suitable for a dark retreat, above all for those participants who feel drawn to that kind of space.

A dark retreat in a wooden cabin in an orchard

We decided to create a space for participants in dark retreat cabins in our orchard. We wanted to provide a peaceful space where participants could reflect and relax undisturbed. The cabin is designed for one person or a couple. More about the cabin’s facilities for a dark retreat.

Why did we choose cabins in a village orchard for dark retreats?

1. Only about 30 people live permanently in our village
2. The orchard is a place where you can feel a wonderfully calming energy
3. Less than 20 m from the cabin stands an old lime tree
4. The cabins are made of wood, so they breathe naturally
5. Every participant has complete peace and quiet
6. The cabin is soundproofed for maximum comfort and peace
7. The cabin is heated by a quiet heat pump with air conditioning
8. The cabin stands on the edge of the village
9. When the retreat ends, you can watch the sun rise over the Iron Mountains
10. Before and after the dark retreat, participants have the whole garden at their disposal
11. The garden is full of trees, shrubs and flowers for maximum relaxation

What kind of space suits you best for a dark retreat?

We believe that every participant will choose the place that suits them best for their dark retreat. Some prefer the cave mentioned above, some don’t mind being in a building in the middle of a city where they might hear noises from the next flat or footsteps above them, and some prefer peace and quiet.

We chose the path of nature, letting go, calm and relaxation.

We wish all participants a pleasant dark retreat.

This picture is a fitting image of the hurricane of thoughts some participants have in their heads 🙂

As you can read in the accounts of people’s experiences in the dark, there are participants whose thoughts become more intense, and others for whom that doesn’t happen at all – they spend the whole week enjoying themselves as if they were on cloud nine.

What kind of participant are you on a dark retreat?

Broadly speaking, some people are more logical and some are more feeling-oriented. Logic is more masculine energy (yang), while feelings are more feminine energy (yin). This has nothing to do with gender, but with which side of your life energy you use.

In essence it doesn’t matter whether you perceive the waves of energy in your body more as thoughts or more as feelings, so we believe you will recognise yourself in some of the following situations.

Waves during a dark retreat

Let’s assume a participant intends to stay on a dark retreat for a whole week, from Saturday to Saturday. What might go through their head? On arrival we basically tell everyone that the mind (those voices in your head) will do anything to get you out of the dark. So the participant may experience the following situations.

“I’ve already got everything I came for, so I can go home on Wednesday.”
A very common thought, which usually means that something is being uncovered inside the participant that the mind doesn’t want to see. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“Where is this feeling coming from?”
A typical manoeuvre of the mind: looking for a cause and thereby diverting attention from the feeling that is happening right now (the present). Our recommendation: LSoS.

“What am I even doing here?”
Questioning your own decision helps the mind divert attention from the present and steers you into the past, endlessly going over your own decisions. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“I’ll go home on Tuesday, because I’m taking a place from someone who needs it more.”
Comparing your life situation with other people’s is a favourite technique of the mind to divert your attention from the present so that you deal with how others are doing instead. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“Nothing’s happening, I can go home on Thursday.”
Everyone’s mind creates expectations, whether they are aware of it or not. Comparing the life situation that is happening right now with a picture of expectations painted in advance serves to diminish the actual experience. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“What time is it?”
My usual question-answer, “If you need to know the current time for your further spiritual development, I’ll tell you”, usually works, and the participant bursts out laughing. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“I have a feeling they need me at home.”
Fear is the mind’s ace up its sleeve, and it usually works to divert attention from the present to your family, loved ones or friends. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do at home.”
Some people experience a dark retreat as idleness, when they could actually be active as usual, and feel they are wasting time in the dark. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do at home.”
Some people experience a dark retreat as idleness, when they can’t be active as usual, and feel they are wasting time in the dark. During a dark retreat the body has time to work on itself, sometimes imperceptibly. Our recommendation: LSoS.

“It’s too cold/hot in the sanctuary.”
“There’s too much dust in the sanctuary.”
“There’s too much/too little space in the sanctuary.”
“The mattress in the sanctuary is too soft/too  hard.”
“…”
We could go on like this for hours. It’s natural: the mind will find anything at all and then keep going over it again and again to draw your attention away from the present moment. Our recommendation: LSoS.

Perhaps you are now wondering what LSoS stands for.

Leave the Sanctuary on Saturday … in other words, enjoy the whole week in the dark 🙂