I have been working as a coach and mentor for more than twenty years, but the dark retreat took me somewhere I had never been in all my practice so far. It was actually one of my clients who led me to the decision. When I met him after his retreat, I saw a completely different energy in his eyes. He struck me as someone who had found a deep inner calm and a far greater ability to focus on his work and his everyday priorities. I decided to experience it for myself and started with the three-day option.
A digital detox and an encounter with my own mind
My three days in total isolation were the biggest digital detox you can imagine in today’s fast-paced world. You put your phone away, switch off your computer and suddenly come face to face with yourself, stripped bare – with your inner voices and your own mind. Only in that kind of silence do you discover how many thoughts normally run through your head. The greatest paradox of the experience is absolute freedom. There is no judge or warden watching you; you answer only to yourself. In the dark there is no point lying to yourself, because there is nobody there to fool. Accepting the truth about yourself is the essential starting point of any real change.
Returning to the “embrace of love” and gratitude
When I left after three nights and stepped out into the early-morning half-light just as the moon was setting, I was flooded with enormous gratitude and a deep sense of belonging to nature. The coming dawn was like returning to the embrace of an all-pervading love. It was an incredibly powerful moment. I can still feel that inner state of harmony and clarity long after going back to the usual whirl of work.
In future I am considering a whole week in the dark
The experience left a big mark on me and changed the way I see inner hygiene of the mind. If I decide on a week in the dark in future, it will be with great respect and humility. It is not about proving something to myself – I want to go even deeper, to the very core of my being. But you have to be inwardly mature and ready for a step like that. Everything has its right time.
Libor
