Be Still.
A Communal Darkness Retreat
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
October 8 to 12, 2026 · Pilot Group
We are creating a pilot experience of the first-ever communal darkness retreat of its kind, in collaboration with the teachers and founders at Hridaya Family Meditation and Yoga Retreat Center in San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Quick Details
- Dates: October 8 to 12, 2026
- Fly into: Tuxtla Gutiérrez International Airport, TGZ
- A shared shuttle covers the 1.5-hour ride from TGZ to the retreat on October 8, departure time TBD, with a return shuttle on October 12.
- Arriving outside that window? You will be responsible for transportation. We will assist to find the best way there for you.
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
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.
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's Holding This
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 presence of a death doula, and the same space that he holds in maximum security prisons.
He first came to this work through his own darkness retreat in 2021, where he discovered he was a poet.
A year later he quit his job and was a participant in A Year to Live. He experienced profound expansion, healing his relationship with his mother, his family, and finding himself more deeply through service to the incarcerated community.
David is obsessed with slow mornings and over-editing landing pages, and enjoys deepening his union with his partner and stepping into the role of a stepfather.
Hridaya Family Meditation and Yoga Retreat Center
We're holding this retreat at Hridaya Family, a family-run meditation and yoga center in the pine forest just outside San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Its teachers and founders have spent decades in yoga, meditation, and contemplative inquiry, and they host silent and darkness retreats in the same spaces you will practice in.
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 Three Movements
One. Your body softens, together
If your system has been living in “always on,” we lean into gentle group yoga, breathwork, meditation, guitar sound baths, 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. 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.
Apart from the Darkness Room, where the dark is complete, every space we gather in is a darkened room, with blankets over the windows and candlelight.
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 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.
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.
What's Included
- Beautiful accommodations
- Round-trip shuttle from the airport
- Daily communal darkness practices
- Opening Mayan fire ceremony
- Guided yoga, meditation, breathwork
- Guitar sound bath
- 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.
Not included: airfare, travel insurance.
Investment
The retreat investment is $1,000 for the pilot group.
This includes your round-trip shuttle to and from the retreat center from TGZ airport, all meals, hospitality, and activities.
$1,000 payment is preferred through Zelle.
If you have any questions, reach out directly to David or Viji. You can also email us here.
If life happens and you can't attend, your seat is non-refundable. We are operating this pilot at cost and are excited to co-create this with you.
We will support in finding a replacement.
Be Still.
The dark may not be here to take something from you.
It may be here to give you something back.
Communal Darkness Retreat