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.
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