Hridaya Yoga considers that the darkness and the abyss is nothing to be afraid of, because who we really are is the very essence of Darkness and Light as well. There are not animalistic tendencies at the bottom of our being. Even if it might appear like this for many people, nirvana is there and the Supreme Self, consciousness, is the background of it. Sometimes the darkness of anguish or desperation or fear or death can instantaneously reveal pure awareness, nonconceptual bliss. And this is because there is a quantum leap between what seems to be the bottom and the top.

Darkness also indicates the ultimate act of unification, the so-called mystic marriage. The abyss is as much topless as bottomless.

In the Bhagavad Gita, it is the immortal, Krishna, who is “dark,” while Arjuna, the mortal, is “white” (they are symbols of the Supreme Self and the individual ego).

Kaya Kalpa

In India, retreats in darkness are usually called Kaya Kalpa retreats. The term kaya means “body” and kalpa means “ageless,” or “immortal.” Kaya Kalpa literally means “ageless body” (or “body fashioning”).

Kaya Kalpa is an Ayurvedic treatment for rejuvenating the body, calling for seclusion in darkness, meditation, and the application of various herbal concoctions. It can even be seen as a form of Yoga, and Ayurvedic medicine was developed in South India at about the same time that Hatha Yoga was being developed.

Kaya Kalpa has three main objectives:

1. Slowing the aging process
2. Maintaining excellent physical health and youthful vitality
3. Delaying physical death until one achieves jiva-mukta or spiritual liberation (from the effects of karma)

Because in Hridaya Yoga (as in Jnana Yoga, in general) the main purpose is not the rejuvenation of the physical body, but the direct understanding that we are not just the physical body, we do not refer to it as Kaya Kalpa, but as a Dark Retreat, as the Tibetan Dzogchen adepts name it.

The Taoist approach

Of course, even though this is not our purpose, the rejuvenation of the physical body during such a retreat occurs naturally. Because of this, we will mention some of the physical and psychic effects of remaining in darkness as related to brain chemistry.

According to Mantak Chia (in the book Darkness Technology):

Melatonin, the ‘sleep molecule,’ is produced in the pineal gland, in response to the darkness of night, and to the circadian rhythms of light and dark that are programmed into the hypothalamus, an endocrine gland located deep within the brain. Melatonin affects major organ systems, quieting the sympathetic nervous system and allowing daily rejuvenation of mind and body.

In the Dark Room, melatonin gradually accumulates in the brain.”

Soma – The Regenerative Energy of Darkness

The yogis associated the fluid of eternal life, soma, with the energy of the moon, an essential vital energy that is charging the human being during the night and which is “burned” by the inner sun (this burning provides the energy manifested during wakefulness, in the different daily actions). In this case, day is the symbol of all dualisms and of the personal domain of action, of the dispersant energy, while night is the symbol of eternity, contemplation, regeneration and centeredness.

The Dark Night of the Spirit and the Mystical Tradition

In mystical theology, Darkness or Night is the symbol of the apophatic Spiritual tradition. It is the “Neti Neti” of the Upanishads. It is the disappearance of all knowledge, which may be defined, analyzed or expressed. Further still, Darkness means the state of being deprived of all proof and psychological support. Night suggests “emptiness” or “nakedness” that purifies the mind, eliminating “dryness” or “aridity” of rational thinking, bringing sacred longings, sensual emotions and even the highest aspirations.

Deprived of light, the individual is dispossessed of all. This is the so-called doctrine of privato boni. Memories cannot help us grasp the current situation. The individual is said to be in the cloud of unknowing. St Dionysius referred to it as divine darkness, the nigredo of the Alchemists.

The Alchemical Perspective

The Dark Retreat has its significant correspondences in Alchemical work:

Alchemical “work” began with Nigredo, or blackness. This first phase in alchemy means putrefaction or decomposition. As a first step in the pathway to the philosopher’s stone, all alchemical ingredients had to be cleansed and cooked extensively to form a uniform black matter. This is a death and return to formless chaos, leading on to the white phase and finally to Rubedo, the red phase of Spiritual freedom. Albedo is literally referred to as ablution, or the washing away of impurities by aqua vitae (the Water of Life).

The journey into Darkness is not just a first stage, but it is the essence of the spiritual alchemical work, because without it, the individual will remain only at the superficial level of mere rational thinking and social existence, dominated by dogmas. There is an important alchemical adagio:

Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Occultum Lapidem (“Visit the interior of the earth; rectify what you find there, and you will discover the hidden stone.”) To describe the “descent into Darkness,” summed up in the word “vitriol,” alchemy has preserved some very ancient symbols.

The individual (actually only his/her personality) descending into its original nature will suffer a great loss. He must abandon all his old moral, social and spiritual values. Thus, he will open himself to a different order, more in tune with the Harmony of the Whole.

This is what is happening in a Dark Retreat.

Dark Room Retreats – The Hridaya Perspective

No “lapse in memory”

Being fully aware in a Dark Retreat is like becoming conscious in the “night” or “forgetfulness” of deep sleep. In the book I am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj explains the fact that even in deep sleep the Knower (the Supreme Witness) is present:


M: Surely you cannot say the knower was absent. The experience of things and thoughts was not there, that is all. But the absence of experience too is experience. It is like entering a dark room and saying: ‘I see nothing.’ A man blind from birth knows not what darkness means. Similarly, only the knower knows that he does not know. Sleep is merely a lapse in memory. Life goes on.

In a Dark Retreat, as in a deep sleep, the whole objective world disappears. But, it remains the Witness “surrounded” by nothingness. We are aware of this nothingness and eventually in this Nothingness, the Witness is revealed as the very nature of it. Then, it is still Nothing, but the Nothingness is not meaningless anymore, or just a lapse in memory, but is full awareness, the Witness.

Osho also brings insights about Darkness and the need to surrender to it. He speaks about the “negative darkness,” a concept that describes the “dark part of our being” (the fears associated with our subconscious world), while the “real darkness” is transcendental, bringing nirodha parinama, a deep transformation of our subconscious domain.

Speaking about the superiority of darkness compared to light, he emphasizes the relative symbolism of the worldly light. (Like Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light can be a symbol of transcendence. In the Supreme, there is no difference between Darkness and Light. It is both Darkness and Light.)

Why has God been symbolized everywhere as light? Not because God is light, but because man is afraid of darkness. This is human fear — we like light and we are afraid of darkness, so we cannot conceive God as darkness, as blackness. This is human conception. We conceive God as light because we are afraid of darkness.”

“If you can love darkness you will become unafraid of death. If you can enter into darkness – and you can enter only when there is no fear – you will achieve total relaxation. If you can become one with darkness, you are dissolved, it is a surrender. Now there is no fear, because if you have become one with darkness, you have become one with death. You cannot die now. You have become deathless.”

“First a deep friendship with darkness is needed.”

So do one thing as a preliminary step: sit in darkness, put off the lights, feel darkness.Have a loving attitude towards it; allow the darkness to touch you. Look at it. Open your eyes in a dark room or in a dark night; have a communion, be together, imbibe a relationship.”

“First uncover your unconscious fears and try to live and love darkness. It is very blissful. Once you know, and once you are in contact with it, you are in contact with a very deep cosmic phenomenon.”

“Boundaries exist because of the light. When the light is not there, boundaries are dissolved.In blackness nothing is defined, everything merges into every other thing. Forms disappear.”

“Contemplating, meditating, merging… Darkness takes away all distinctions. In the light you are beautiful or ugly, rich or poor. The light gives you a personality, a distinctness — educated, uneducated, saint or sinner. The light reveals you as a distinct person. Darkness envelops you, accepts you – not as a distinct person; it simply accepts you without any definitions. You are enveloped and you become one.”

“When darkness enters you, you enter into it. It is always reciprocal, mutual.”

(Osho – The Book of Secrets)

Practical Elements


During a Dark Retreat, we should do some meditations with open eyes and others with closed eyes. We should constantly keep the Witness Consciousness, asking the question “Who am I?” Here it is even more important not to dramatize or let ourselves be taken over by imagery. In this way, we develop the capacity of witnessing any thought, sensation or emotion that may appear. The attention is on the darkness as the expression of the absolute.

Traditionally the Dark Retreats were done by advanced practitioners in the Dzogchen lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and the period varied from a few hours to decades. Some Tibetan monks recommend a 49-day Dark Retreat. This period was recommended only to the advanced practitioners, because such a retreat requires stability in the natural state.

There are historians who suggest that Ancient Egyptians and Mayans practiced a form of Dark Retreat as well, traditionally lasting 10 days. Holy men would enter into the center of their respective pyramids, completely removed from light and sound. The catacombs and the underground network of tunnels of the first Christians in Rome and many other places, such as the Pyramids of Egyptians and the caves of the Essenes near the Dead Sea in Israel, might have been used as places for Dark Retreats as well. In the Taoist tradition, the cave, the Immortal Mountain, the Wu San, represents the Perfect Inner Alchemy Chamber. The Tao says: “When you go into the dark and this becomes total, the darkness soon turns into light.” (Mantak Chia)

In the beginning, we don’t recommend Dark Retreats longer than 7 days.

The Psychological Black Hole

In this way, our own subconscious is unloaded, in a way similar to that in which active and passive impressions (the so-called psychological residue, samskara), are unloaded in the form of dreams during the night.

Apparently paradoxically, this Pure Darkness will absorb many of our obscure trends, of our psychological “darkness,” and of our fears arising from the lack of awareness.

As black holes absorb enormous quantities of matter, in a similar way, in the psychological domain the darkness of transcendence can absorb our limited personal emotions and psychic residues.


It would be good to get enough sleep in the days before a Dark Retreat. Generally, people start such a retreat by sleeping a lot. There is nothing wrong with this – it is a natural process that comes along with the relaxation and the new entering in tune with the universal Rhythms of Nature. But, it will be good to have long sessions of meditation also.

The schedule might be kept similar to that of a Hridaya Silent Meditation Retreat, but this is just for orientation, and is not at all compulsory. It is very important to free ourselves from the idea of having a very strict schedule (which is related with the left, rational, cerebral hemisphere; a dark retreat should develop the intuitive attitude, related with the right cerebral hemisphere).

The awareness will increase and there is no need to be afraid of boredom. Here, we’ll realize that the boredom is a very relative concept, because it is related with the desire and hunger for stimulation. The deep relaxation and awareness gradually eliminates this constant need for stimulation. In the calmness of the dark room, “the need” for reading, watching TV, working at a computer or chatting with friends is gradually effaced, along with the quietness of the subconscious tendencies.

The practice of Hatha Yoga is recommended, but it is better to be done in the Hridaya Yoga Style, and avoiding any forceful attitude.

By keeping the witness attitude the patterns of our mind can be objectified much more easily. Thus, the mind can be easily transcended. The awareness of the Spiritual Heart becomes more acute and reveals new dimensions of depth.

During the retreat, there might appear different images and visions. Even if they seem fascinating or sacred, we should keep the awareness of the awareness, asking “Who am I?” and “Who is the witness of all these visions?”


Read an inspiring and informative article about an experience of 40 days in total darkness here.