Darkness Retreat Basics

Turn off the lights and the mind gets loud fast. Sean Fargo sits down with Scott Berman, founder of Sky Cave Retreats, to explore what happens when you spend days in complete darkness with no phone, no screens, no books, and none of the usual ways we keep ourselves busy. Sky Cave’s earth-sheltered cabins in southern Oregon are built to be fully blacked out and almost totally soundproof, creating a rare form of solitude that can feel nurturing, confronting, or both.

Scott shares why he does not frame darkness retreats as a heroic endurance test or a guaranteed “healing experience.” Instead, he focuses on the quality of the container: how the retreat is presented, how safety is supported, and how much permission people have to be exactly as they are. We dig into disorientation and why losing normal time and place cues can be unsettling, even when you are physically safe. Scott also breaks down how the autonomic nervous system can interpret being alone in the dark as a survival threat, and why normalizing fear, sadness, anger, or restlessness can be more helpful than trying to transcend them.

We also explore a subtle but powerful idea: belonging often feels more urgent than authenticity. When we expect to do a retreat “the right way,” we can unconsciously hide the parts of our experience that do not match the story. This conversation is for anyone curious about darkness retreats, sensory deprivation, mindfulness practice, somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and what real integration can look like after intense stillness.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

Mindfulness Exercises with Sean Fargo is a practical, grounded mindfulness podcast for people who want meditation to actually help in real life.

Hosted by Sean Fargo — a former Buddhist monk, mindfulness teacher, and founder of MindfulnessExercises.com — the show explores how mindfulness can support mental health, emotional regulation, trauma sensitivity, chronic pain, leadership, creativity, and meaningful work.

Each episode offers a mix o...