Hello Tomáš and Lenka,
At the beginning of July 2018 I was with you for a five-day dark retreat and I promised to write a few lines about my impressions…
I was really looking forward to the dark retreat
You could describe it as a mix of curiosity (what will it be like?) and a need for a certain kind of rest – in the form of “switching off”, or strongly limiting the stimuli and influences around me. My “looking forward” was also shaped by the impression the book Tvary tmy (Shapes of Darkness) by Pavlína Brzáková and Jaroslav Dušek had left on me.
After the lights went out in the evening, within about two hours (it felt almost fast to me) I got into a pleasant state of calm, even bliss. I was very curious what my sleep would be like. The important thing was that it wasn’t really any different from home. No nightmares, no insomnia.. People also sometimes say that you sleep through your first three days in the dark. That wasn’t my case either. My sleep was apparently of better quality (thanks to the silence and the darkness) and I seem to have fallen asleep earlier than usual, and I must have woken up early too…
As for the food, I was more than satisfied. I enjoyed all the flavours, the hot food (soup and main course), the dessert (different every time, but always good and not too sweet a cake), and the fruit and vegetables were a joy too. The meals were probably vegan, which I didn’t pay much attention to there, I simply enjoyed them.
I used a lot of the time for exercise. In particular a few repeated yoga poses + press-ups and stretching were quite a favourite of mine. Singing, drumming and tapping out rhythms with my hands on different parts of my body also put me into a pleasant mode.
The days in the dark went by quite slowly and in the last two days I was really looking forward to the experience of “coming out” of the darkness… And I can tell you, it is a wonderful experience!
What is my overall impression?
My overall good impression of the dark retreat rests on having my need for solitude met (the luxury of solitude!) and also on deliberately making myself do nothing, which I also rate very positively.
I would like to thank Tomáš Roud and Lenka Roudová for this. You do it well!! Keep going, don’t ease up 🙂
With warm regards,
Václav
