Bharati talks about her personal experiences from her own 10-day Darkness Retreat. Enjoy!
(However, if you prefer, there is also a summary of what Bharati talks about below the video)
Bharati meditated for 10 days in complete darkness (in December 2010), and for her it was an experiment in consciousness and spiritual things, as she loves to do things that are not ‘normal’ and to have her own experiences, rather than what other people tell her. She likes to have her own experiences and not buy into other people’s systems so easily. So if someone tells her it’s great to be in the darkness, she has to have her own experience to find out if it’s true. She had longed to do a Darkness Retreat for over 10 years.
Bharati says that this tradition primarily comes from Tibet, and whilst other cultures embrace it, it’s mainly from Tibet. Their yogis and Siddhas might spend many months or even years in complete darkness. They have a lot of both conscious and unconscious experiences, because in the dark you can start to have hallucinations, but then, how do you really know what is a hallucination and what is true? Bharati felt she would know exactly what was true and what wasn’t; she’d had many experiences, including seeing spirits as a young child. She’d spent a lot of time in an Ashram in India and had experiences there, so she believed there was nothing new for her, compared to what it’s like for others who might not have had those experiences in their lives.
But actually, what happened for Bharati in her Darkness Retreat changed her mind. She is now absolutely convinced that everybody, no matter how far along we are in our spirituality, we all have an unconscious place from where we create our own reality and that is really amazing, because that is not conscious. It looks so real.
She said it was really an amazing journey and doesn’t recommend that anyone does it alone. It is better to have the support of someone you like, trust and have a connection to, and preferably someone who has already done a Darkness Retreat for themselves, and has a feeling for how spirituality can work, how things can be on the astral planes, because some experiences can be really intense. Some can also be very funny.
Bharati says we cannot say what is going to happen the next day, because our ‘unconscious mind’ literally means un-conscious, so that is where all our fear lies, where all our trauma is saved, and when it comes up, it will not come up in a very conscious way. It might manifest as a spirit or even a demon in front of you. It could be real, but it could be just your unconscious, which is so afraid of something that it appears like a demon, but it is just your inner demon. It is so amazing.