I’ve just done my first dark retreat (7 nights). It was really interesting to be out of contact with the world and to sort out for myself that everything is definitely fine. I thought it would be boring, that I’d sleep a lot, exercise and meditate, but the opposite was true.
The first evening I did spend a while coming to terms with the reality of it, but on the second day I meditated (just calmed my mind) and got into a pleasant state that lasted, more or less, right to the end, so I didn’t feel much need to meditate.
I slept about 8 hours a day. Once a day I treated my body to some stretching, because otherwise my stay was physically very passive. I just lay there and reflected. Even when I was reflecting on things that would normally make me feel worse, here, calm and in a pleasant frame of mind, I could explore them through and through and fine-tune them.
Otherwise I was sorting out my priorities and understanding more deeply what I’ve learned in 6 years of inner growth. Even though I often have those “aha” moments, here, in peace and with no distractions for a long time, the insights came more often. I made about 50 short notes. I read half of them straight away on Saturday morning after the lights came on (interesting handwriting 🙂 ) and I still haven’t read the rest. I was also waiting to see how it would carry over into my life afterwards, and I expected more specific shifts, but I was very surprised at how noticeably simpler, lighter and clearer life as a whole seemed to me after that. Even though I still get carried away by circumstances now and then, the inner calm is definitely greater.
After only about a week I could imagine that I’d go into the dark again, and gladly. So for me the dark retreat was an “enlightenment”. I mean as a process, because I don’t see enlightenment as a final state, since luckily there is always somewhere further to go.
Jarda
