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The Dark Retreat is a powerful and often intense experience, so it’s important to consider carefully how many days you feel ready to spend inside. For beginners, we generally recommend starting with 4 nights. If you wish to book longer than five days, please share your meditation and retreat background, daily practices, and your intentions for the dark retreat. This helps ensure the right fit and preparation for a transformative experience.

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A dark retreat offers a unique and profound experience, quite different from a retreat in the light. In the dark, you’re completely alone with your mind, and there are no distractions. This can lead to deep self-reflection, but without a steady practice, it can also feel challenging, with the mind wandering into boredom or endless thinking.

If you have a background in meditation or inner work, the dark retreat becomes a powerful container for diving deeper into your process. Many people report transformative experiences, whether their retreat lasted three days or three months. It’s an opportunity to explore your inner world on a deeper level and gain insights that may not surface in ordinary circumstances.

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It’s not common for people to leave a dark retreat early, but it can happen. If you feel the need to exit before the scheduled end, the door is locked from the inside, and you are free to leave at any time. However, leaving early can mean that you miss out on the full benefits of the experience, and it’s important to understand that the retreat's power often builds over time.

If you do leave early, you may choose to stay in one of our other accommodations to complete your extra days, at an additional cost. Please note that we do not offer refunds or compensation for the days missed in the Dark Retreat.

There is no shame in leaving early if needed. Sometimes, expressing your needs and exiting the retreat can be the most important step, especially if emotions or insights are not yet ready to be processed. For this reason, we provide the option to communicate with us if you need to come out early. We always recommend professional, experienced support at The Hermitage, as it ensures that your experience is safely navigated and fully supported.

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There are two meals per day in the Dark Retreat, delivered through a small double-door food box. We open our side, outside of the Dark Retreat, and you open your side, inside of the Dark Retreat, without any light penetrating inside the room. You eat in complete darkness and then place your empty food container back into the food box where we collect it again when we bring your next meal. Special food requests must be arranged beforehand.

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Visions are common during a dark retreat but should not be the primary reason for entering. The retreat is not about seeking a “natural high” or a DMT experience, though shifts in hormones can sometimes lead to such visions. These experiences should simply be witnessed, just like any other thoughts or sensations that arise. People with fewer expectations often have the deepest and most transformative retreats.

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At The Hermitage we provide two wholesome vegan meals per day and tea in a thermos with breakfast. We do not allow fasting for more than three days inside, even for experienced fasters. All of those who fasted inside reported afterwards that it was ten times harder fasting in the dark with no distractions that in a normal fast outside.

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There are two meals served per day inside the Dark Retreat. As you are spending almost the entire time in meditation and sitting or practicing yoga, you don´t spend too much energy and almost everybody finds that two meals per day is sufficient. Here is an idea of what each meal looks like:

Breakfast: Either fresh fruit or whole-oat porridge topped with nuts, seeds, coconut, cacao beans etc served with a large thermos flask of fresh herbal tea from the garden

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Lunch: Grains (either brown rice, noodles, pasta, cous cous, quinoa etc) with vegetables prepared with different spices and flavours (Asian-style stir fry, Indian-style curry, Italian style sauces etc) along with nuts and seeds on top and often fresh avocado from our garden. Three to four times a week the main meal includes beans, lentils or chickpeas. We can add eggs to your meals as requested.

The portion sizes are large, but should you require extra snacks, we can provide either a bag of toasted nuts and seeds or bananas or hard boiled eggs on the side of meals as preferred (at a small extra cost).

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The dark retreat can be for anyone who feels a genuine calling to explore their inner world deeply. While advanced meditation practitioners may find it familiar territory, the experience is not limited to them. What matters is your capacity to be present with yourself, to meet what arises in the dark, and to have tools or support to navigate potentially intense emotions or states of mind.

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The Dark Retreat is a practice open to those who are called to dive deeply within themselves and rest in undisturbed meditation for many hours a day, for multiple days. Although we do not exclude anybody from the opportunity for this deep dive into solitude and darkness, we do not recommend entering the Dark Retreat if you have a long history of mental illness, addiction, or hospitalization, or if you are currently in an unbalanced mental state, have a chronic physical illness or are working with an addiction right now.

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The only rules that The Hermitage asks you to adhere to while inside the Dark Retreat are the following:

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We do not allow the use of any drugs, alcohol or plant medicines inside the Dark Retreat.

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We do not allow fasting for more than three days inside the Dark Retreat

We ask you to leave the space just as you found it and replace anything that may be broken or damaged during your stay.

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We recommend that you give your phone to us to put in our safe upon arrival so that you do not have that temptation while inside the Dark Retreat.

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Yes, support is available during a dark retreat, tailored to your needs.
You can choose a guided retreat, where a professional facilitator provides preparation, daily check-ins, and integration support to help you navigate the experience. Alternatively, for a more independent approach, self-led retreats include initial preparation and integration talks but no daily guidance. Either way, you’ll have a clear framework to ensure your safety and maximize the retreat’s benefits.

Preparing for a dark retreat involves creating a strong foundation for the experience. Here are some key steps:

1. Cultivate Presence: Develop or deepen practices like meditation, breathwork, or mindfulness to support staying present with yourself.

2. Emotional Readiness: Reflect on your emotional landscape and build tools for navigating intense feelings or states of mind.

3. Gradual Exposure: Consider shorter silent retreats or periods of solitude to acclimate to stillness and introspection.

4. Physical Well-being: Maintain a healthy diet and ensure your body is in a state of balance and comfort.

5. Set Intentions: Clarify your reasons for entering the retreat and the themes you want to explore.

We’ll also discuss your preparation during our initial consultations to ensure you feel confident and supported going in.

The temperature in the dark retreat is between twenty degrees celsius (68F) and 25 degrees celsius (78F), with fresh air being pumped in all the time. It is good to bring a pair of warm socks and a jumper with you.

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Yes, there is a hot shower in the Tara Cave, but not yet in the Buddha Cave. If a hot shower is important for your comfort, the Tara Cave would be the ideal choice for your retreat.

Here’s how I’d respond:

Inside the Dark Retreat, The Hermitage provides everything you need for a comfortable and focused experience:

• Plenty of cushions for meditation

• A wooden meditation bench

• A chair or couch

• A yoga mat

• A fresh towel for the shower, hand soap, and toilet paper

• Note paper and a pen for journaling

• A fully prepared bed with extra blankets

• A bathroom with an eco toilet and (in the Tara Cave) a hot shower

• Shelves for clothes and personal items

This setup is designed to support both your physical comfort and your inner process during the retreat.

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Yes, there is always fresh drinking water provided inside the dark retreat. We ensure you have easy access to water throughout your stay to support your comfort and well-being.

Couples can share the profound experience of a dark retreat in our Tara Cave, the only space available for two people.

You’ll share the meditation and sleeping areas, navigating the retreat together while honoring each other’s individual processes. Key considerations include:

• Intentions: Align on why you’re doing the retreat as a couple and what you each hope to explore.

• Preparation: Both partners should prepare individually and discuss how to handle challenges that may arise.

• Support: Daily guidance can be arranged if desired to help navigate the experience together.

A couples dark retreat can deepen your connection and provide transformative insights, but readiness and clear communication are essential.

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We let people into the dark retreat at sunset (around 5pm) and out at sunrise (around 5.30am) so that the eyes can gently adjust to the light again. It is a great idea to consider booking a few extra nights in one of our cabins or private rooms both before entering the dark retreat, and afterwards, so that you can deepen your retreat and integrate back into the light more gently.

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Yes, the door is locked from the inside, so you can open it at any time and come out if you have to. We are always available for support if needed also.

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The Hermitage asks for a full payment upfront to confirm all bookings for Dark Retreats. All payments are fully refundable, minus a $50 processing fee, up to three months in advance. Three months or less before your retreat is due to begin, the payment is completely non-refundable. Once your retreat has begun, The Hermitage is not able to give a refund if you decide to leave early or skip meals that you ordered in advance. 

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For more information:  POLICY & PRIVACY

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