Category: Participants’ experiences

My dark retreat with Lenka and Tomáš was my very first. After reading through the manual in the cabin and getting my bearings in the space, I switched off the light. The first hours were really interesting – my eyes kept subconsciously searching for even the tiniest ray of light, but there was nothing, just total darkness.

First feelings and letting go

After the first night came a strange awakening, and tears welled up in my eyes. A slight restlessness followed, but it was gradually replaced by relief once I realised that nothing was actually happening. I spent my free time stretching, listening to audiobooks and thinking. The food was a big experience for me too – thanks to my heightened sense of taste in the dark, I really savoured it.

How time passes when you choose a dark retreat

On the second day I felt the need for fresh air. With a scarf and a sleep mask over my eyes so as not to break the darkness, I opened the door for a few seconds and just breathed on the threshold. Only in absolute darkness do you discover how liberating it is to be without “crutches” like your phone or the TV. Without everyday duties and work, you can dive deep inside yourself and discover something new. While the world outside is in a rush, here you have plenty of time for everything.

The third day went by in complete ease. Even though you lose track of time, in the present moment it passes incredibly quickly. You enjoy it in a completely different way than when you are constantly thinking about the past or about everything you still have to get done.

What did this experience give me?

Whether you are considering a shorter visit or a week in the dark, it will bring you unexpected insights. Personally, the darkness gave me:

• Inner peace and relief.

• The realisation that we really need very little to live.

• Huge joy and new energy after coming back into the light.

Even though I slipped back into my old routine after returning, I know I need to keep working on myself. We are only here for a limited time, so why not use it meaningfully?

Michal

Relief, balance, peace of mind, cleansing, rest, reconciliation. Those are the feelings this experience left me with – it gave me exactly what I needed.

I’d like to say how completely satisfied I am with my dark retreat with Tomáš and Lenka. Even a month on, now that I’m back in my everyday working rhythm, I can still clearly feel how much those 3 nights in seclusion helped me.

The experience was a present from my wife, and I have to say she hit the bullseye. Even though it wasn’t a whole week in the dark, this experience was absolutely fundamental for me. It was the perfect digital detox, which helped me quieten down and sort out my thoughts. I’m really glad that, thanks to my wife, I was able to take this step and share my feelings with others too.

Radek

Heading into total darkness for a whole week may sound like an unimaginably long time to some. In this case, though, the participant decided that three days would simply be too few, so he went straight for a seven-day retreat. Even though he had slight worries before arriving and kept thinking that a week is an awfully long time, his longing for real rest, without distractions and without his phone, won out. Darkness therapy became a way for him to get to know himself better and put his thoughts in order.

A phase of silence and time flowing naturally

The first two or three days were all about complete relaxation, and his body got a perfect rest. Then came a phase of deeper reflection and sorting out his own thoughts. In darkness and silence, you notice that time flows a little differently. In the end, the participant experienced the whole retreat as one long night, or one endless, refreshing sleep, and he didn’t even realise that seven days had already passed.

Time always went slowest just before lunch, when you wake up and feel the food must be coming, but the wait seems to stretch out for hours. Without a watch, you divide up the day naturally: you exercise in the morning, eat in the afternoon, wash or take a nap, depending on what your body wants at that moment. The cabins are perfectly insulated not only from light but also from sound, so you can experience hours of complete silence, something you aren’t used to in everyday life. Even though it was freezing outside and there was snow, the underfloor heating and the occasional extra warmth from the air conditioning kept the cabin at an absolutely perfect temperature.

Audiobooks and the return to reality

Towards the end of the retreat, around the seventh day, being alone with himself was starting to get hard. At that point, the participant turned to the audiobooks and music available in the cabin to refresh his mind. This input helped a lot at a time when he was already starting to look forward to going home to his family and to everything waiting for him outside. The dark retreat showed him that there is nothing to lose, only something to gain.

What do you take back into the light?

After a week spent in isolation, you are much more aware of yourself and of what your body really wants. Even if after seven days you are already looking forward to noise and light, the inner calm stays with you. The seed of longing for rest that had been growing in the participant since the summer finally bore fruit in the form of deep self-knowledge. You just have to go for it, and either you manage it or you don’t – but the experience is definitely worth it.

We have put together the most frequently asked questions that people ask before a dark retreat.

Follow our YouTube channel too, where you will find videos about the retreats and experiences of darkness therapy. 🔔

Hi Tom and Lenka,

“The dark retreat was a big test of my mind. But in the end it brought me something I didn’t expect – freedom,” says Pavel, describing his experience.

I’d like to thank you, belatedly, for a great dark retreat. I approached it with a lot of respect. Even though I was going into seclusion for “only” three days, it was clear to me that it would be a test for my brain and my mind. All the more reason I want to share my experience, which I consider extraordinary.

Before the darkness therapy I had been a tobacco user for many years – I chewed it for about 19 years. Three years ago I decided to stop, but it turned out not to be easy at all. As a crutch I chose nicotine gum, which was really just out of the frying pan and into the fire. They say nicotine addiction is comparable to heroin addiction.

The turning point came on my second day in the dark. Just to be safe, I had brought a supply of nicotine gum into the darkness so I wouldn’t risk unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. But on the second day, in the silence and the unknown, it suddenly hit me how absurd it was. Why am I actually still chewing nicotine?

From that moment on I haven’t touched it. Well, actually once – when I was throwing out the rest of my supply at home and it turned my stomach.

I’m not saying that everyone who goes on a dark retreat will automatically get rid of an addiction. I just want to share my personal experience: for me, it helped me break free of a heavy nicotine addiction. I don’t understand how it happened there in the dark, but it’s amazing.

Darkness therapy is definitely not over for me, and I’m already really looking forward to my next retreat.

Bye, Pavel

Hi, I wanted to write to you as soon as possible, but you know how it is – you keep putting it off until you don’t write anything at all. And yet my dark retreat was such a powerful experience! I had been planning it for several years, but it never worked out. Then suddenly, through an unexpected chain of events, it miraculously happened. I came to you more or less in secret. I didn’t know much about it, but something simply drew me there.

Discovering that darkness isn’t black

The week in the dark itself was really lovely. It was nice to have a comfortable bed and a warm floor, where I spent a lot of time. The food was different from what I’m used to, but it tasted really good – and above all, those portions! They were so big I couldn’t even finish them. Thanks to your tips, I even managed to make myself tea in the dark without spilling it over myself.

The biggest surprise for me was discovering that darkness isn’t black or scary at all, but beautiful and colourful. If I knew how to meditate, I believe the experience would have been even deeper, but even so, the days in the dark flew by incredibly fast.

An aha moment and a digital detox in practice

I wanted to thank you so much for that precious time after the retreat ended, when we talked through my life over coffee. You managed to hold up a mirror to me. You see other people’s mistakes but not your own – and here, thanks to you, it all clicked. It was an incredible “aha moment”. This digital detox and disconnection from the outside world filled me with energy and zest for life.

Instead of rushing home after I left, I enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere in the churches in Kutná Hora. I felt independent and strong. Even meeting my children, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time, was wonderful. My change was noticeable, and the children praised me for it and for my plans.

Back to reality and new boundaries

Even though, since coming home, the enthusiasm sometimes fades a little and the old ruts try to pull me back, I can see big changes in myself. I’ve learnt to set boundaries with my family, and they’ve started to respect them. I observe myself more, I don’t let myself get carried away by negative emotions and I try to stay calm.

I’ve changed my wardrobe from black to colourful, started doing a bit of sport and, above all, smiling more and talking to people. I feel good, things are going well at work and I’m no longer afraid to speak up when I need to know something. I no longer care what others think of me – what matters is that I feel good and don’t have to be ashamed.

All in all, the dark retreat and your words have changed me for the better. I still have a way to go to full independence, but I’m already doing cold exposure, talking more with my children and I feel I’m on a good path.

Thank you both so much for everything.

Lenka

Stopping in today’s rushed world can be a tough nut to crack. So two friends decided to try something unusual and set off for a place ruled by silence and blackness. Tomáš came up with a specific date and an offer: “Come with me.” And so began their experience of what darkness therapy has to offer.

An idea that needed time to ripen

Both of them first heard that dark retreats exist quite a long time ago. One of them heard about the possibility roughly two years earlier and let the idea ripen inside him. The other thought about it now and then, but didn’t feel he had to try it straight away. The turning point came when he switched off the lights at home and realised how fascinating darkness actually is.

Each in his own cabin

Although they arrived together, each of them stayed in his own cabin. Each had come to go through it for himself and in his own way. Originally they didn’t even know they could be together. Looking back, though, both admit that if they went again, they would probably choose separate paths again and each go alone. One of them only remarked that a cabin for couples could be an interesting experience for getting to know a partner deeply in the future.

When hunger fades and time flows differently

Fasting was also part of their journey. While not eating can be hard in everyday life, in the muffled setting of the cabin hunger came far less often. The participants felt it was much easier than in normal life. Thoughts of various foods, like roast potatoes or broth, only started appearing in the last few hours of the retreat.

Working with time was fascinating too. The first day, when you sleep through most of it, flies by. After that, though, your perception changes and you lose track of time completely. Time in the dark flows completely differently from everyday life, where people are always doing something. You’re just there, staring into space.

Back to reality with a clear head

The end of the retreat came with an excitement like that of a little boy looking forward to new toys. One of them used the last hours before the door opened for a final meditation, during which new ideas and creative thoughts came to him that left him thrilled. Above all, darkness therapy brought them both a deep calm that they want to carry into all their everyday activities. There was inner forgiveness too, because you realise there is no point holding on to old things and it’s better to let them be.

Would you also like to find out what thoughts will come to you when you switch off the light? Open yourself to this experience and let yourself be surprised by what you find in the dark.

Would you like to find out more about the darkness guides?

Also follow our YouTube channel, where you will find videos about the retreats and people’s experiences of darkness therapy. 🔔

🙂 Mostly I feel rested. Of course I’ve got more energy, but I’m also kind of looking forward to things more. To the light, more like. Not so much the world, more the light. And to having something to work on. On myself, like. Maybe a bit of that too.

The first night and the dark

🌑 Mainly, now I know I’m not scared at night, because when I went in I had no idea what to expect, basically. And the first night was probably the most intense. When I woke up – at home or anywhere else I’m used to there’s at least some little light lurking somewhere or something. And here you just have nothing to focus on. Just darkness everywhere. Just nothing. Nothingness and emptiness. It’s strange, but kind of nice too in a way.

Thoughts, silence and perception

🙂 You’ve got loads of space in there. Thoughts come and go. Something comes back, something else leaves again. There’s nothing distracting me. No phone, no light, no clock. Time passes differently there and you realise loads of things. You start noticing yourself more.

DARKNESS THERAPY through my eyes

🌿 DARKNESS THERAPY wasn’t some kind of luxury for me. It was more that I wanted to try it. Until we actually try it, we won’t find out. I didn’t go in with big expectations. More with curiosity about what it would do to me.

The retreat and the process inside

🙂 Fears come up in the dark too. You find out that loads of things are just in your head. Bit by bit you get used to it. You stop dwelling on it. You start taking it as it is. And I found that really interesting.

What the DARK RETREAT gave me

🌿 Above all, the DARK RETREAT gave me calm. It gave me time to think. It gave me the chance to be with myself. And it also showed me that it doesn’t end here. Often it’s actually a kind of new beginning for you. There’s always something to improve and somewhere to move on to.

We have put together the most frequently asked questions that clients ask before a dark retreat.

Follow our YouTube channel too, where you’ll find videos about retreats and experiences of darkness therapy. 🔔

I set out on this journey at a moment when I felt I needed a change. When I came back, I felt as if I had been born again. I felt relief in both my soul and my body, and I could clearly sense the difference between the physical and the psychological level. It was exactly this connection that was one of the most powerful moments DARKNESS THERAPY gave me.

A space where I could stop

The decision to go into the dark ripened in me gradually. It wasn’t an impulse but an inner calling. The dark retreat opened up a space for me where I could stop and truly listen to myself. The silence and complete darkness helped me set the outside world aside and sink more deeply into my own experience. Thanks to this I could relax and let everything flow naturally.

Gentle support during the retreat

During the retreat I also noticed small things that supported me. Headphones and audio recordings played a big part for me. I only put on meditation music on the last day, but that was exactly when a very powerful experience came. I felt connected to myself and to all the beings I sensed somewhere “above us”. It was a deep, intense and at the same time very gentle moment.

A lightness that stayed

When I finished the dark retreat, I felt as light as a feather. This feeling stayed with me as a natural result of the whole of the DARKNESS THERAPY. It wasn’t just a rest but a deep inner experience that brought me peace and gratitude.

Support that gave me courage

The support of the people around me was important too. My friends told me I had never had an experience like this and that I should go for it. Their words encouraged me and helped me trust my own decision.

Coming back to myself

Today I can see that DARKNESS THERAPY was not an escape from the world for me, but a return to myself. The dark retreat gave me space to calm down, to connect more deeply and to new realisations. The experience left me with lightness, calm and the feeling that I am a little closer to myself again.

We have put together the most frequently asked questions that people ask before a dark retreat.

Follow our YouTube channel too, where you will find videos about dark retreats and people’s experiences with darkness therapy. 🔔

🙂 First step back into the light

Well, I feel great. That was the very first thing that came to mind when the door opened and I stepped outside. The sun had come out and the whole world suddenly felt different. My head was spinning for a while and I needed a moment to get my bearings, but a walk round the garden was enough for everything to fall into place. It felt absolutely amazing.

🌿 Expectations and going into the dark

I went into DARKNESS THERAPY with certain expectations. I knew exactly what I wanted from it, and I have to say it came true. What I expected from it, I really got. The DARK RETREAT gave me space to slow down and be with myself without any distractions.

🌒 Three days that flowed differently

I chose three days. At first I thought that was the ideal length. But as the end got closer, it struck me: “Blimey, maybe I’ve only just started getting used to it.” Suddenly I felt I was really beginning to sense the silence and the rhythm of the dark. It wasn’t boredom, more a gradual sinking in.

🧘‍♂️ Being with myself

I know I can cope with my own company pretty well. I don’t need someone constantly talking to me or distracting me. That’s exactly why DARKNESS THERAPY suited me. In the silence I didn’t have to sort anything out, prove anything or rush anywhere. My thoughts calmed down and my body adjusted naturally.

🌘 When the mind creates images

My sense of space was interesting too. Sometimes it seemed to me that I could see something in the dark. But once I walked into a wall at a moment when I thought I could see, I realised that I actually couldn’t see anything at all. That moment was powerful and very instructive at the same time. It showed me how the mind can create its own reality.

☀️ Back to the sun

Once I was back outside, what I wanted most was to sit on a little chair in the sun and let it warm me up. I was a bit cold by then, and I felt the warmth of the sun much more intensely than before. The DARK RETREAT changed the way I perceive ordinary things.

🌾 What I’m taking with me

DARKNESS THERAPY wasn’t an escape for me, but a return. A return to simplicity, to calm and to myself. And that’s exactly the feeling I’m taking with me into everyday life.

Would you like to know more about the dark retreat guides?

Follow our YouTube channel too, where you’ll find videos about retreats and experiences of darkness therapy. 🔔

For many people, DARKNESS THERAPY means meeting themselves in a way they never experience in everyday life. This interview shares the experience of a participant for whom it was her very first time in the dark. Right at the start, she describes how the length of the retreat was demanding for her, and yet it brought important realisations. Even though there were moments when she needed to switch on the light, going back into the dark had a deep meaning. This is exactly where you can see how a dark retreat gives everyone precisely what they need at that moment.

The need to rest and slow down

She didn’t go into the dark just for the experience itself. A need to rest and slow down played a big part. School had been putting her under a lot of pressure, and the silence together with the darkness offered a space where her body and mind could finally let go. The rest wasn’t only physical, but inner too. The first days were mostly spent sleeping, which naturally balanced out a long period of strain.

Recordings as gentle support in the process

Gradually, space opened up for reflecting on life situations that usually call for attention but get no room in the bustle of everyday life. At first it was hard to listen to her own inner self. This is where the recordings, available on site to every darkness therapy participant, played an important role. They helped turn her attention inwards and gave her something to lean on in the process. Listening to all the recordings brought a deeper awareness of different parts of herself and supported her inner sense of direction.

No pressure to perform or achieve

Darkness therapy in this case didn’t mean performing or pushing for a result. It was more a process in which things happened gradually and naturally. The darkness gave her space to stop, take a breath and notice what was arising, without disturbance from outside. Even moments of uncertainty had their place and led to greater trust in herself.

An experience that continues after you return

So the dark retreat brought an experience that goes beyond the time spent without light. It opened up the chance to see herself through different eyes, to allow herself peace and to let her body and mind find their own rhythm. That is the strength of this approach – it doesn’t force, it offers. And everyone takes away exactly what they are able to accept at that moment.

We have put together the most frequently asked questions that people ask before a dark retreat.

Follow our YouTube channel too, where you will find videos about the retreats and experiences of darkness therapy. 🔔