Darkness retreat is a profoundly exposing experience where we get a very unique window into our inner world.
The way in which we relate to what is revealed, plays a fundamental role in how genuinely settled we feel in the dark.
We want to be cautious not to be a general advocate for darkness retreat. It is certainly not for everyone and where you choose to do it has a significant impact in the kind of experience that you have. The walk into darkness is out on a very delicate edge where experienced support becomes a critical compass to someone’s journey. It is way more than just going into a darkroom and most of what is happening within us goes unseen.
Over the last 5 years here with hundreds of dark retreatants, we’ve learned so much about what happens when all different kinds of humans, from all walks of life, with different kinds of conditioning, nervous systems, trauma, coping mechanisms, managing strategies, inner resources and life experiences go into darkness. Through this, and our own experience in darkness, decades of solitude and retreat, and continually deepening into our uncovered truth, we have developed and continue to evolve our somatic approach to darkness retreat.
A SOMATIC APPROACH
embodied
get into it "
~ Martin Prechtel
" DO NOT GET OVER IT
When we go into darkness, we stop orienting in our external environment and thus we lose our habitual/normal anchor which keeps us connected to what's happening in the here and now. Most of us are not aware of deeper and subtler realities moving through us in our day-to-day busy lives so when we really slow down and lose this point of reference to the here and now in the dark, the contents of our mind become our entire universe.
Somatic awareness invites us to include our body in the experience in darkness and can bring us out of our mind. We have a new point of reference and resting place. Oriented in sensation, in our form, in embodied awareness, we shift away from a mental-focused reality and enter into a body-focused reality.
SIMPLY HONEST & CONNECTED
with what is
We have captured many people emerging from the dark on video and have shared some of their most vulnerable and authentic moments that show the transformational power of darkness retreat.
Our exit interviews can be misleading in that they tend to solely depict a peak experience and/or profound insights and revelations. While these experiences are sincere and do occur, it is important to note that these moments tend to represent a small portion of someone’s time in darkness.
A dark retreat is not a peak experience. It is an exposing experience. It is a vulnerable experience. It is a profoundly confronting experience. Almost everyone reports that it is more challenging than they imagined and not what they thought it would be.
The highs and good feelings don’t carry anyone through the eternity that is darkness – honesty does. It is a slow fundamental shift, through us being sincerely honest with and connected to what is naturally and spontaneously happening in our body, that delivers us into something profoundly simple and completely brand new. Exposed. Vulnerable. Intimate. Aware. Feeling.
~ Chögyam Trungpa
THEN WE'RE INVOLVED IN SELF DECEPTION"
as the dream
come true
"IF WE EVER REGARD ANY PART OF OURSELF OR OUR EXPERIENCE
Due to our conditioned nature and assimilated culture, we tend to spend most of our adult life, and thus also our time in darkness, in hopes of gaining something.
In darkness, that hope of gain tends to be subtle – like wanting a special experience, a revelation, transformation, an elevated state, validation upon emerging and/or some sense of personal significance. This is ultimately a cover for the resistance and lack that is present which insulates us from emotions and underlying sensations that we don't want to feel.
This compulsion to cover our lack, resistance and core emotions has us constantly managing our experience – fixing and improving ourselves, distracting and insulating, achieving and accomplishing, seeking and searching, coping and enduring with so many brilliant, beautiful, subtle, nuanced, and hidden ways and means.
Due to our conditioned nature and adopted culture, we tend to spend most of our life, and thus also our time in darkness, in hopes of gaining something.
COME
as you are
We invite you to prioritize direct experience with the uncovered moment.
To simply welcome, include, and receive all of your parts, all of your emotions, all of your lack and the totality of your experience. To let yourself be completely exposed in the depths of your honest connection with what is naturally and spontaneously here and now in your body.
"TO EXPERIENCE EMBODIED AWARENESS,
THAT ACTUALLY INFORM YOU ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL"
take notice of the underlying sensations
~ Peter Levine
take notice of the underlying sensations
THAT ACTUALLY INFORM YOU ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL"
"TO EXPERIENCE EMBODIED AWARENESS,
~ Peter Levine
Settle into a simple and intimate relationship with what you're feeling in your body.
Delicately meet the truth within.
Let nurture lead.
Quietly listen.
Honestly be with what is here and now.
And discover the depths, riches and subtleties in nothing special - in the utter simplicity of your being
as an anchor
USE YOUR BODY
"And there I found my true peace and enlightenment.
In the temple of the ordinary.
In the sanctuary of the mundane.
In the holy heart of the uncovered moment."
~ Jeff Foster
" No pratices are even necessary
for this quest"
- Ramana Maharshi
take notice of the underlying sensations
THAT ACTUALLY INFORM YOU ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL"
~ Peter Levine
In the vast unknown of the darkness, we invite you to use your body as an anchor.
To settle into a simple and intimate relating with what you're feeling in their body.
To nurture and tend to your hearts.
To receive care.
To discover the depths, richness and subtleties in nothing special - in the utter simplicity of your being
"TO EXPERIENCE EMBODIED AWARENESS,
take notice of the underlying sensations
THAT ACTUALLY INFORM YOU ABOUT HOW YOU FEEL"