E14 - I Spent 6 Days in Complete Darkness
Know Thyself
André Duqum
4.8 • 658 Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2022
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
André shares his experience of 6 days in total darkness. Darkness retreats have been used for spiritual purposes across many ancient cultures. They can be an incredible way to tap into your inner stillness, and drop deeper into a state of awareness. Today, André sits down with Scott, owner of Sky Cave Retreats, to unpack his time in the dark - and why it is so valuable for others to experience.
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Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
2:11 Why Darkness?
12:03 Logistics of Creating a dark space
18:09 History of dark retreats
23:40 Psychedelic visuals
25:43 10 days in darkness
30:31 Relativity
38:04 Solitude & Seeking Discomfort
44:54 Deepest Insights
1:00:14 Conclusion
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Sky Cave Retreats:
Scott Berman, co-owner of Sky Cave Retreats, has spent over two years in self-guided solo retreats fasting and meditating in the wilderness, over a year at various Goenka Vipassana Centers sitting and serving, and has also done extensive formal retreats with various spiritual teachers and adepts across many different lineages & traditions.
He has done over 70 days in the dark in multiple solo dark retreats, and facilitated over 200 dark retreats with his partner.
Nestled in the Cascade-Siskiyou Wilderness in Ashland, Oregon, Sky Cave Retreats offers a safe space for you to experience total darkness.
https://www.skycaveretreats.com
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Know Thyself
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Going in the darkness coming out, I became so much more sensitive to the most simple things, |
| 0:05.1 | whether it was the birds chirping, the breeze of wind, the sensation of sunlight hitting my skin, |
| 0:10.3 | the feeling of breath in my lungs, the pure bliss of just being is the best felt experience |
| 0:17.9 | that you can have. And unless you're sensitive, you're not going to be able to really experience that. |
| 0:22.1 | This, for me, feels like an energetic rewiring of how you experience reality. |
| 0:38.9 | Hello, beautiful beings. |
| 0:41.7 | Welcome back to the Know Thyself podcast for every single week. |
| 0:49.1 | We get the honor of sitting down with a dear friend, a brilliant mind, a open heart, |
| 0:54.6 | somebody that can help us realize and live a more liberated human experience. |
| 1:00.3 | Today's episode is going to be a very interesting one because about four months ago, |
| 1:03.4 | I went and embarked on a darkness retreat. |
| 1:10.1 | Essentially for six days and six nights, I submerged myself into a bunker, a cave of sorts and completely withdrew my senses. |
| 1:13.6 | There was no sight, no light, no sound, and it was a very transformative experience. |
| 1:19.3 | I know that might sound crazy to whoever is listening to this. |
| 1:21.5 | And maybe he's never heard of these things before. |
| 1:23.8 | But we're going to be diving into what it is, why you would want to do that, why I wanted to do that, all the insights that I got from that experience. |
| 1:31.3 | And we're going to be doing it and beautiful conversation today with the dear friend Scott from Sky Cave Retreats, who's here to join me today. |
| 1:37.7 | So first off, Scott, thank you for being here. |
| 1:39.6 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:40.7 | I'm excited for this conversation, man. |
| 1:42.4 | Yeah, me too. |
| 1:43.7 | There were so many beautiful |
... |
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