A Communal Darkness Retreat
Be Still.
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
October 8–12, 2026 · 10 places
If you secretly miss slowing down…
If you've been sensing there's something deeper calling you…
If you're curious what darkness might reveal when it isn't something to fear…
This retreat is for you.
We'll practice stillness. Share meals in the dark. Tell stories. Walk beneath the stars. Sit beside silence.
Not to escape life…
but to meet it.
Fully.
This is a retreat for the human heart. A gentle invitation to become still enough to hear what has been whispering beneath the noise.
Be still.
Come sit with the darkness.
Come exactly as you are.
Five days in Chiapas for people who are tired of being constantly stimulated, constantly needed, and constantly on.
You'll step away from the noise, the screens, the decisions, and the performance of ordinary life so your body can soften, your attention can return, and you can begin meeting the unknown with curiosity instead of control.
Most retreats invite you to escape your life.
This one invites you back into it.
You won't be asked to spend three days alone in complete darkness. Nothing is forced. You choose how long you stay in the dark. If twenty minutes is enough, twenty minutes is enough. If you want to stay longer, beautiful.
The point is not to conquer darkness.
The point is to become quiet enough to ask, “What if darkness has been trying to teach me something all along?”
The darkness is a teacher that removes nearly everything we've learned to distract ourselves with. In a culture terrified of slowing down, darkness offers one of the last places where nothing is expected of us.
In these times, remembering how to be human is the most radical practice.
Who it's for
This is for people who are tired.
Not just physically tired. Soul tired.
This is for people who…
- feel exhausted from constantly producing or performing
- are navigating transition — loss, divorce, grief, career change, identity shifts
- sense there's something deeper calling them
- are curious about darkness as a contemplative practice
- long for solitude while also being held by community
You don't need meditation experience.
You simply have to be willing.
Who it's not for
This is not for you if you're looking for:
People looking for…
- A luxury vacation
- Entertainment or constant activities
- Quick transformation
What you'll walk away with
- A deeper trust in yourself
- A different relationship with silence, uncertainty, grief, and stillness
- Greater clarity around what truly matters
- A nervous system that has experienced deep rest
- Renewed wonder and appreciation for ordinary life
- Practical ways to continue a darkness practice at home
Many won't leave with answers. They'll leave asking better questions.
Going deeper (optional)
For those who feel called to go deeper, two private darkness immersion rooms will also be available — spaces of complete darkness where you may spend anywhere from twenty minutes to a few hours alone.
This experience is entirely optional, guided by your own comfort, curiosity, and readiness.
Nothing is forced. You choose how deeply, and for how long, you wish to enter.
Where you'll be
We'll be in the pine mountains outside San Cristóbal de las Casas, 2,200 meters up, where the air stays cool and clean. The retreat sits inside forest and valley, on land local Mayan elders consider sacred ground.
People who've been there describe it as a place that meets you halfway, where the quiet outside starts to work on the noise inside.
The main house is simple: wood, stone, big windows, pine forest, coffee and hummingbirds in the mornings, and nourishing meals.
The entire facility at Hridaya Family Meditation & Yoga Retreat Center will be privately booked for our group only.
What happens before the retreat
The retreat begins before Chiapas.
- A Q&A grounding call, so you can meet us and ask what you need to ask
- A medicine poetry ceremony, so something honest has already entered the circle before we meet in person
- An at-home darkness practice — as soon as your place is reserved, we'll send you a simple guided practice to begin with
The three movements
One — your body softens, together
If your system has been living in “always on,” we lean into gentle group yoga, breathwork, meditation, and sound baths. We will practice side by side, with nourishing shared meals and enough space for your body to realize it doesn't have to brace for the next thing. The first win is less a breakthrough and more your shoulders dropping, in the company of others whose shoulders are dropping too.
Two — you befriend the dark, held by others
The darkness is a visceral conduit of the unknown. In it, you project everything you ignore, deny, and bury. And you do it inside a circle, not alone. Through guided group darkness practices, candlelit community meals, darkened-room poetry circles, and night walks together, you'll slowly explore what happens when your eyes aren't doing all the work and your nervous system is allowed to sink into deeper presence, knowing others are sinking with you. Meals become different while taste becomes louder. The external changes mirror the internal, and the group holds what any one person couldn't hold alone. You can step out of any darkness practice at any time. Someone will be there, and so will the rest of the circle.
Three — you re-enter life
We'll help you carry the retreat home to your ordinary life. Whether it's eating a meal in candlelight, taking an evening walk without headphones, or simply sitting quietly in the dark for twenty minutes before bed. You will decide on a practice that carries forward the stillness you received from the darkness, allowing your life to be full of wonder again.
What's included
- Beautiful accommodations
- Round-trip shuttle from the airport
- Daily communal darkness practices
- Opening Mayan fire ceremony
- Guided yoga, meditation, breathwork, and sound baths
- Guided hikes and walks
- Storytelling and poetry circles
- Nourishing home-cooked vegetarian meals
- Facilitated conversation salons
- Integration practices to take home
- You'll also have spaciousness to rest, reflect, laugh, nap, wander, or simply do nothing at all.
- Thai massage is available as an optional add-on, because who doesn't like a nervous system reset with elbows.
There is no right way to experience this retreat. Your experience is your own.
What's not included
- Airfare
- Travel insurance
Investment
The retreat investment is $1,500.
Pay in full, or split it into 3 payments of $600. All payments need to be completed before the retreat begins.
Enrollment closes September 20th, or when all 10 spots are filled.
If life happens and you can't attend, your seat is non-refundable. You're welcome to suggest someone to take your place, and we'll make sure they're a good fit for the room before transferring the seat. We'll support as much as we can through this process.
A note on A Year to Live
For some people, this retreat will be the whole experience. For others, it may become the threshold into A Year to Live, the 12-month container this work also sits beside.
About the facilitators
Viji
Viji came to darkness work as a participant first — as David's very first client in his pilot cohort for A Year to Live. From there she went further than anyone asked her to. She created her own at-home darkness retreat, invited her community to help hold it, and has since led in-person Darkness Labs in New York City.
That's where the heart of this retreat comes from: someone who built the practice from the inside out, who knows what it's like to be the one going into the dark before she was ever the one holding the door.
Viji is a mother of three and is obsessed with running and donuts.
David
David brings the poetry, the hospice volunteering, and the same space that he holds in maximum security prisons. He first came to this work through his own darkness retreat five years ago, where he discovered he was a poet.
A year later he quit his job and was a participant in A Year to Live.
How to apply
- Complete the short application.
- We'll review it and then we'll send the details, and begin the pre-retreat grounding calls.
Viji + David
P.S.As soon as your place is reserved, we'll send you a simple at-home darkness practice to begin with before Chiapas. Nothing dramatic. Just one small, guided way to turn off the lights, soften the noise, and let your body discover that the dark may not be here to take something from you.
It may be here to give you something back.
Questions?
Ready to reserve your spot, or have a question first? Leave your details below and we'll be in touch. Only 10 places are available.