Step Into the Profound Silence of Total Darkness
A darkness retreat is exactly what it sounds like. You enter a room sealed completely from light and stay — three nights, five, seven, or ten. Meals come through a hatch in the wall. No phone, no clock, no visual input of any kind. What you bring into that room is everything you are: your practice, your habits of mind, the material you've been managing, the stillness you've been looking for.
Most people who find their way here have been meditating for years, or carrying something they can't quite name, or both. Something still feels out of reach. More thinking hasn't helped. There's a sense that what's needed isn't more input but a different kind of contact with what's already there.
The practice has roots in Ayurvedic and Tantric traditions going back centuries. Practitioners used extended periods of darkness to meet consciousness directly, without the constant filtering layer that ordinary visual life creates. When sight is removed, the inner landscape comes forward in ways that are hard to predict and harder to forget. Some people find a quality of stillness they have never touched before. Some encounter material they've been carrying for a long time without knowing it. Most find both.
What awaits you in the darkness is not emptiness. It's everything you've been too distracted to notice — including the pain you have been working around, and the clarity that has been waiting on the other side of it.
This is not a break from the noise. It is a specific, demanding practice, and it will meet you exactly where you are. That's a warning and an invitation at the same time.
Check out this Blog post - What Is A Darkness: The Mystery, the Magic, and the Science Explained
Your Facilitators
Kyle and Sasha have been living, practicing, and teaching at the intersection of yoga, tantra meditation, and contemplative retreat in San Cristóbal de las Casas for five years.
Their approach is rooted in Classical Shaivist Tantra and shaped by nearly 30 years of combined spiritual practice and extensive time in silence, solitude, and darkness.
Kyle sat his first darkness retreat in 2013. In 2020, just before opening Hridaya Family, he completed a 35-day darkness retreat. They built this space as a place where serious practice could happen without pretense, grounded in the landscape of Chiapas and held with genuine care.
When you retreat here, you're not in the hands of a program. You're in the hands of people who have sat where you're sitting.
Video Testimonials
Our Darkness Retreat Room
We've designed our dark retreat as a true sanctuary for deep inner work—a comfortable, naturally-built cabin that feels more like a refuge than a retreat space. The room breathes with you through careful ventilation, while thick walls and natural materials create the perfect cocoon for your journey inward. Your private bathroom ensures complete autonomy during your stay.
The cabin includes a private bathroom with a hot shower and flushing toilet, so you have everything you need without leaving your space.
Important Considerations Before You Begin
Darkness retreats are profoundly personal experiences that require inner readiness and emotional stability. Beginners to the path of meditation, spirituality, personal transformation and consciousness exploration are welcome but expected to come prepared for a self guided and completely solitary retreat experience.
For first-time participants, we limit stays to three nights maximum. This allows you to safely explore the experience while building familiarity with the unique challenges darkness presents.
Your wellbeing is our priority. If at any point during your retreat we sense you're becoming emotionally overwhelmed or psychologically distressed, we'll compassionately transition you to one of our regular solitary cabins where you can continue your retreat with natural light and additional support.
This practice demands respect, preparation, and honest self-assessment.
If you feel ready to meet yourself in the depths of darkness, get in touch
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Every retreat starts with a conversation. We take the time to connect with each person before confirming a booking. It helps us make sure the experience is the right fit for where you are right now. Reach out however feels easiest.
What to Expect?
In the embrace of complete darkness, your inner world awakens in remarkable ways.
Many participants discover vivid, meaningful dreams that feel more like guidance than sleep. Others find their intuition sharpening, creative solutions emerging, or long-held emotions finally finding release.
Some experience profound stillness they've never known, while others encounter parts of themselves that have long been forgotten
There's no "right" experience—only yours, unfolding exactly as it needs to.
What remains consistent is the sense of coming home to yourself in a way the light-filled world rarely allows.
You may like to check out this Blog post on preparing for a darkness retreat
Insights From A 56-Day Darkness Retreat
Darkness Retreat Packages
Three nights is where we start. It's enough time to acclimatize and reach a real depth of quiet, and it's the maximum we recommend if this is your first time in extended darkness. Five and seven nights suit those with an existing practice who want more than a glimpse. The ten-night retreat is for experienced practitioners ready to sit with whatever arises without the pressure of a near exit. If you're unsure which length is right for you, that's one of the things we'll talk through before you book.
3 Nights Dark Retreat + 1 night before and 1 night after.
Includes:
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3 nights stay in the darkness retreat room (entering mid-late afternoon on day 2, exiting early morning, before sunrise on day 5)
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Meeting with an experienced meditation practitioner/instructor, with dark retreat experience for debriefing, sharings, reflections, integration advice (day 5)
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Breakfast and Dinner on this day (day 5)
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1 night stay after you come out of the darkness, for integration purposes
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Breakfast on day 6 before you leave.
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NOTE: If you are applying for your very first darkness retreat (here or anywhere else) we will ask you to start with a 3 night retreat. Isolation in complete darkness can be a very intense experience for some people and we have learned through experience that it is always wise to practise caution and humility when approaching intense spiritual practices.
Price Breakdown
5 nights - 6,650 MXN
5 breakfasts - 950 MXN
5 dinners - 1300 MXN
Total = 8,900 MXN (approx. $509 USD)
5 Nights Dark Retreat + 1 night before and 1 night after.
Price Breakdown
7 nights - 8,800 MXN
7 breakfasts - 1,330 MXN
7 dinners - 1,820 MXN
Total = 11,950 MXN (approx. $683 USD)
7 Nights Dark Retreat + 1 night before and 1 night after.
Price Breakdown
9 nights - 10,400 MXN
9 breakfasts - 1,710 MXN
9 dinners - 2,340 MXN
Total = 14,450 MXN (approx. $826 USD)
10 Nights Dark Retreat + 1 night before and 2 nights after.
Price Breakdown
13 nights - 15,050 MXN
13 breakfasts - 2,470 MXN
13 dinners - 3,380 MXN
Total = 20,900 MXN (approx. $1,194 USD)
Longer Than 10 Nights
We can of course accommodate retreats of longer than 10 days, some of our teachers have completed darkness retreats of longer than 1 month. However we will only consider applications for longer retreats in complete darkness from practitioners with more than 3 years of consistent meditation practice, previous experience with group and solitary retreats and previous experience with shorter darkness retreats.
These requirements are absolute, please do not apply if you do not meet or preferably exceed them.
*Check-in is at 3:00 pm and check-out is at 11:00 am unless other arrangements have been made.
If Something in You Is Ready, That's Enough
You don't need certainty. You don't need a perfectly timed life or a polished idea of what you're looking for. Most people who come here just knew it was time. If you've read this far, reaching out costs nothing. Send us a message and we'll take it from there.
FAQ's
Is it Safe to Travel to Mexico/to Your Centre?
Mexico’s reputation regarding safety, while not entirely untrue, is often exaggerated by the news media, especially in neighbouring countries where opposition to Mexico/Mexican people supports political agendas and dramatic media coverage drives clicks, views etc. There are certain areas of Mexico where there is a high rate of crime. These areas are thus less safe for foreign travellers. However, millions of travellers and holiday makers pass through Mexico each year without incident. This particular area had seen a little instability in 2024, surrounding the presidential elections in Mexico, however the situation has stabilized considerably and the area is generally safe. A huge movement by local authorities has recently removed hundreds of known cartel members from the area and made big steps in increasing general safety in San Cristobal de Las Casas and Chiapas in general. Additionally, our centre is nestled in a mountain valley outside the historic city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, an area protected by native peoples and indigenous laws. Regarding travel here, we have a long standing relationship with a particular taxi driver and his brother. They provide safe and reliable airport and local shuttle services for guests coming/leaving the centre.
What is the easiest most direct way to get to the retreat?
There are generally 2 main airports that you can fly into. Of these, by far the most popular is MEX Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México (Mexico City airport). The other is CUN Cancún International Airport. (There are other international airports in Mexico, into which you may find cheaper flights from your specific location from time to time, but these are the most convenient and common) From either of these airports you can catch a connecting flight to TGZ Aeropuerto Internacional Ángel Albino Corzo. This flight takes around 1.5hrs from Mexico City. From this airport we can arrange a taxi to pick you up directly from the airport and bring you either directly to us, or to San Cristobal de Las Casas (around 1000MXN). Or you can take an airport shuttle (you will need at least some basic Spanish) into San Cristobal de las Casas (around 300MXN). Either option takes around 1.5hrs From San Cristobal de Las Casas, we arrange a shuttle to our centre on the day that your retreat is schedule to begin, at 13:30. The cost of this suttles service is 150MXN per car, shared between however many people are in the car. the ride is about 20 minutes to arrive at the centre.
Will it be Cold in There?
Our dark retreat rooms have heating. At the same time, it is sometimes cold here and during long period of inactivity in complete darkness you may some times feel the cold. We have many blankets we can bring you, plus the already mentioned heating.
Are There Any Yoga Classes or Guided Sessions During the Darkness Retreat?
No. A darkness retreat is an entirely solitary experience. there is generally no interaction with anyone on the outside. (Unless there is an emergency, in which case you can reach us via the panic button that is in each room). We expect participants to come prepared with their own personal practice. If you desire, we can offer meditation or yoga classes on an individual basis, according to our availability, any day that you are here and not in the darkness.
How Will You Bring Me Food in the Darkness?
Each room was built with a light proof wooden box in the wall. The box has a door on the inside and the outside, so that no light will enter when we bring you your meals. When you are done eating you simply leave the dishes in the box and we collect and wash them for you.
What Are the Bathroom Facilities Like?
Each of our Darkrooms have small, fully functioning bathrooms with flushing toilets and hot water for showers. I know there are darkrooms in other locations that have very rudimentary facilities, but this is not the case at Hridaya Family. We try to make your stay as comfortable as possible, so that you can focus on what matters, your practice!
What if I Have Never Meditated Before?
Darkness retreat is not a beginner's introduction to meditation. It's an intensification of whatever inner life you already have. That said, you don't need a formal practice background to do a three-night retreat. What matters more is genuine curiosity, a willingness to be with yourself, and realistic expectations. The darkness amplifies everything: silence, sensation, thought, and feeling. If you've never spent extended time alone and in stillness, a three-night retreat is the maximum we'd recommend as a starting point. If you're unsure whether you're ready, tell us honestly when you reach out. We'll give you an equally honest answer.
What if I want to leave the darkness early?
You can. The doors are never locked from the outside. If at any point you feel you've reached your limit, we transition you out of the darkness cabin and into a regular room on the property where you can rest, eat, and decompress before leaving. There's no pressure to push through something that doesn't feel right. That said, discomfort in the early days is normal and often passes. Part of our daily check-in is helping you tell the difference between productive difficulty and a genuine signal to stop. We'll never encourage you to stay in a way that isn't safe.