Reservation Terms and Conditions + Declaration

RESERVATION FEE:
Depending on the individual agreement, the reservation fee corresponds to either 50% or 100% of the total price of the darkness retreat and is payable at the time of booking to bank account no. 2803373037/2010. Upon request, we can issue an invoice. We are not VAT registered.

BOOKING AND CANCELLATION POLICY:

• A booking for a darkness retreat becomes confirmed once at least 50% of the total price has been paid to our bank account.
• If the booking is cancelled by the guest 15 days or less before the scheduled arrival date, the 50% deposit is non-refundable.
• If the darkness retreat is cancelled 16 days or more before the scheduled start date, we refund 50% of the total price of the retreat.
• If you decide to end your stay early, you are not entitled to a refund, including a proportional refund for the unused part of the stay. If the stay is terminated by us, we will refund the proportional amount for the unused period.
• By paying the deposit or the full amount for the darkness retreat, the guest confirms that they have read, understood and accepted these cancellation terms.

This is a profound and extraordinary personal challenge that you have chosen of your own free will and subsequently confirmed by making a reservation and paying the therapy fee.

By making a reservation, you confirm that you are not currently under the outpatient care of a psychiatrist or psychologist. You further confirm that you are not dependent on psychotropic substances of any kind or alcohol.

You acknowledge that all responsibility for the course of your experience (stay) lies entirely with you. The operator is not liable for the course of your experience or for any consequences of your stay, and no claims may be made against the operator.

• The stay is available to persons over the age of 18.

By sending the reservation payment for the experience, the applicant confirms their agreement to the terms and conditions of the experience below and also confirms that they have thoroughly familiarized themselves with the entire content of www.dark-retreat.eu and understand it.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE EXPERIENCE:
The initial interview includes a briefing and the signing of a sworn statement, the text of which is provided below:

• STATEMENT OF HONOR
  I declare that I am of legal age, legally competent, mentally healthy, and free to act on my own behalf. Being of sound mind, fully informed, and after careful consideration, I hereby make all of the following declarations.
• I do not currently suffer from any form of mental illness and am not currently being treated for such an illness. I do not suffer from a phobia incompatible with therapy in the dark or in an enclosed space.
  I have never been and am not currently addicted to alcohol, drugs, psychotropic medications, nicotine, or any other substances that affect the psyche.
• I have reviewed the provider’s website. All conditions and circumstances of dark therapy were explained to me in detail, and my questions were fully answered during the initial consultation.
• I have taken note, in particular, of the dangers of fasting during dark therapy. I acknowledge that I will be provided with a vegetarian diet during dark therapy. I am a non-smoker, or I will completely refrain from smoking during dark therapy.
• I have decided to undergo dark therapy entirely of my own free will. It is clear to me that dark therapy involves near-perfect silence, darkness, and solitude; however, I understand that I may terminate or interrupt the therapy at any time and leave for the light, as I am not locked in the premises in any way nor restricted in my freedom of movement.
• I agree to terminate or interrupt the dark therapy session, or to immediately inform the staff as soon as I experience any physical or mental adverse effects (severe physical pain, distress, anxiety, panic).
• The staff bears no responsibility whatsoever for any psychosomatic condition I may experience.
• Everything I have stated above and signed below is true and complete. I acknowledge that this is a prerequisite for safe, as well as pleasant and beneficial, darkness therapy, which I have decided to undergo.

TECHNICAL FACILITIES

*Darkness
Absolute; the windowless room is separated from the hallway—which is also in absolute darkness—by a special airtight door. Another special door leads from the hallway to the reception office.

*Silence
Relative; a highly sophisticated sandwich structure has been installed within the 200-year-old house with its 90-cm-thick stone-and-brick walls. The exact composition of the super-sandwich is our secret. The human ear—where the brain (mind) seeks any external stimulus in deprivation, and the mind performs the task it has been programmed for since birth—is a truly ingenious tool. We are currently fine-tuning the final 3%, specifically in the high-end range. Absolute silence (to put it hyperbolically) is our goal, though we know it doesn’t exist even in a vacuum (if a vacuum even exists). Let alone in the material world, where gravity pulsates.

*Solitude
You have the chance to be truly alone for the first time in your life; you can experience truly undisturbed introspection. Potential communication verbally or in writing via notes.

*Ventilation
We use the best air duct materials available on the European market. Silent fans located outside the building are controlled by an industrial microcomputer. This is where the three percent mentioned in the noise reduction effort comes into play. Moving air and sound dampeners are a complex alchemy. However, if the human ear receives frequencies that are so-called “indifferent”—meaning the brain cannot analyze what causes them or identify their source—it ceases to perceive them.

*Heat
Provided by glass-ceramic ceiling panels, see www.volf-infratopeni.cz (they are completely silent—no peeling, cracking, or clicking). We adjust them according to your needs using a quiet, inaudible sensor. We are happy to adjust the settings at any time, as the body in kairos mode—with the pineal gland and melatonin fully active—has unpredictable, individual needs for physical comfort.

*Contact with Guides
As agreed upon upon arrival. We provide meals in the form of a “big breakfast” irregularly once every 24 hours. This will make you lose track of linear time, chronos. We’ll set it up in the hallway outside your door. We’ll knock three times. There’s an option, by agreement, not to knock; you can pick up your meal as needed. You can be completely undisturbed and without contact. No one ever enters your room without your invitation.

You are not locked in, but you can lock yourself in. However, the security lock can be unlocked from both sides so that we always have access from the outside, for example, in the event of a natural disaster, war, plane crash, etc. You don’t feel trapped; you are free. At the beginning, you’ll have plenty of time to settle in and get to know the space. We’ll provide you with all the practical information you need.

The main communication and interaction with the guides takes place after the dark therapy session in the form of a conversation, during which we’ll devote unlimited time to you. We believe in and will do everything we can to ensure that you leave having fully processed your experience, so that you can subsequently use it for your own physical and mental growth, as well as for the possible expansion of your consciousness and understanding of potential transcendental insights.

*What to bring?
See the blog post: What to Bring to the Dark Room

Updated January 1, 2026