Our Blog

Ben Hildebrand Shares Experiences From 14, 56 and 7 Day Darkness Retreats A long darkness retreat — typically thirty days or more in total isolation from light — produces changes in consciousness that shorter retreats cannot. Ben Hildebrand spent 56 days in total darkness at Hridaya Family, our darkness retreat facility in Chiapas, Mexico. What follows is what he found, and what actually shifts at each stage. When the door opened after 56 days, our retreat host came to speak

We get a version of the same message most weeks. Someone has read about darkness retreats, feels pulled toward the idea, and wants to know if it is for them. It is almost never a simple question to answer. Not because darkness retreats are complicated to explain, but because the answer depends almost entirely on what the person is actually looking for. The message usually says something about wanting peace, or depth, or a reset. What it is really asking, underneath all of tha

One of Our Darkness Retreat Cabins My first darkness retreat was 48 hours. Not because that was the recommended length. Because that was what was available, and I was curious enough to take it. I also fasted the whole time I was in there. Again, this was not a recommendation. It was just a very impromptu set-up, and the food arrangements were not so well thought through. Two days in complete darkness. It was enough to meet something real. Enough to catch a glimpse of both the

When you remove light from the visual system, the brain does not simply go quiet. In some ways, it may become more active. This is one of the more interesting ways to begin understanding what happens during a darkness retreat. The brain does not passively register the absence of input. It responds to it. Actively, creatively, and sometimes strangely. This does not mean we already have a complete science of darkness retreats. We do not. The direct research on multi-day darknes

Darkness meditation is the practice of meditating in complete or near-complete visual isolation. By removing the brain's dominant external reference point, the practice brings attention into more direct contact with the movements of the mind, body, memory, emotion, fear, imagination, and awareness itself. The practice appears formally in Tibetan Buddhist dark retreat, Bön dark retreat, Taoist cave and inner alchemy traditions, and in the modern darkness retreat. The forms dif

Somewhere in the middle of the first night, the to-do list runs out. Not because you've finished it. Because there's nothing to do. No phone to check, no room to rearrange, no distraction that fits through the crack under the door. Just you, the dark, and whatever was already in there waiting. Most people who ask about darkness retreat preparation are thinking about logistics: what to pack, what to eat beforehand, whether to bring a meditation cushion or a specific kind of pi

Pine Forest Meditation Mexico draws darkness retreat seekers for a reason. The country carries a deep, unbroken thread of indigenous spiritual practice. It has land that has been held as sacred for centuries, climates that slow the body down, and a culture that still understands the value of stillness. When you step into a darkness retreat here, the setting itself becomes part of the practice. At Hridaya Family, we offer the only dedicated darkness retreat facility in Chiapas

I've had the chance to explore darkness retreat meditation in depth over many years. My first retreat was in 2013, and in 2020 I spent more than a month in total darkness. Now I have the honour of hosting people in dark retreats here at The Hridaya Family Meditation and Yoga Retreat Centre in Chiapas, Mexico. In this article I'll share some of my experience and understanding of darkness retreats, along with what the research can—and cannot yet—tell us. There are centuries of