EVODARK DARKNESS RETREAT
The First Group Darkness Retreat EXPERIENCE in The World
Embrace Your Shadows, Find Your Inner Light
Uncover your deepest, most tender places in a radically honest and compassionate way – by going into complete darkness. Reintegrate your shadows, gain clarity about your true purpose and reconnect with yourself, others and life with one of the most intense ancient practices out there – all without the aid of any external substances.
What OUR CLIENTS SAY
Dates for EvoDARK 2025 (Winter) To Be AnnounceD Soon
WATCH OUR SHORT DARK RETREAT DOCUMENTARY
The Unique Evolute Darkness Retreat Experience
Highlights of the EvoDARK Darkness Retreat
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7-Day Retreat
: Unique program in our private retreat center in the midst of the Black Forest. 4 days, 5 nights in the dark. -
Professional Facilitation
: Lean on our 24/7 support for process work in the dark -
Preparation
: Receive guidance on preparing your body, mind, and heart for the dark (sound bath, meditation and more) -
Integration
: Make sense of your darkness stay in our 1.5 day integration programm, incl. breathwork, nature time, sharing circles and more -
Food & Drinks
: Enjoy delicious meals and drinks by our private chef. -
Alumni Network
: Become part of our worldwide Evolute Alumni Network, and connect to people who understand you.
EVODARK DARKNESS RETREAT AT A GLANCE
A carefully curated journey with like-minded pioneers
PREPARATION
1-week digital, part-time preparation phase for deepening your experience: one group session + one personal 1-on-1 session
DARKNESS RETREAT
7 days full-time in our beautiful and peaceful private retreat center in Southern Germany. 5 nights and 4 days in complete darkness. Individual support for your darkness experience in a safe, compassionate, and professional setting.
INTEGRATION
1-week digital, part-time integration phase for transforming your life: one group sessions.
Our pledge of quality and professionalism to you
DARKNESS EXPERIENCE
We support your experience of altered states of consciousness in complete darkness in a safe and professional way.
UNIQUE CURRICULUM
Cutting-edge curriculum based on newest science and ancient wisdom traditions. A bespoke personal development curriculum for people who want more from life and get to the next level.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Promoting your growth with psychology, meditation, body- and breathwork, nature, and inner capacity building.
A learning experience that will open new horizons
YOUR NEEDS MATTER
We focus on your individual intention and needs with 1-on-1 coaching sessions before, during and after the darkness experience.
YOU ARE IN GOOD HANDS
Maximum safety thanks to our skilled and experienced facilitators (psychologists, psychiatrists & MDs, psycho-spiritual guides) and a medical-psychological screening procedure.
THE ATTENTION YOU DESERVE
Support during the darkness retreat is key – you’ll receive daily 1-on-1 sessions and 24/7 support while you’re in the dark.
Three Pillars of the EvoDARK Darkness Retreat
Explore
Self-Exploration isn’t merely an act of discovery but a commitment to understanding the multi-dimensional aspects of oneself. It’s about confronting the unknown, asking the difficult questions, and accepting the treasures that lie deep within. This is where we will support you: our journey encourages a deep dive into the vastness of the self and of life. It’s about seeking clarity, understanding our patterns, and gently questioning our preconceived notions. This introspection, guided by our professional team, aims to provide a clearer perspective on the intricate layers of your being. By probing your inner realms, you might unearth dormant desires, buried emotions, and untapped potential.
Realize
Gaining true insight cannot be forced or willed into existence. Some spiritual teachers say profound insight or “awakening” comes by accident. Well, we at Evolute Institute think that through the right conditions, commitment and inner work, we can at least invite insight and reconnection into our lives.
For some, deep insight might come as moment of realization when dormant truths spring to life, illuminating one’s path. For others, it may come as small, quiet realizations that gradually piece together a clearer picture. With EvoDARK, insight and reconnection is about tuning in, noticing the nuances, and seeing the familiar with a fresh perspective, with beginner’s eyes. It’s about recognizing the patterns that serve us and letting go of those that don’t, all while fostering a heightened yet grounded state of awareness.
Transform
Transformation is a journey, not a destination. EvoDARK’s approach to transformation is rooted in compassion, patience, and responsibility. It’s about small shifts that make a meaningful difference over time. Rather than drastic changes, we focus on the gradual evolution of thought patterns, behaviors, and beliefs. We guide you through a process where insights lead to mindful actions, fostering a life more in tune with your genuine self. Our program fosters a space where insights will turn into actions, and realizations manifest as tangible shifts in your life.
Overview over your EvoDARK Darkness Retreat Journey
To maximize your benefit from the program, we have structured the curriculum into three phases
I. Preparation
1 week, part-time, virtual session
The better you are prepared for our intense darkness incubation, the deeper will be your experience. You will get to know your fellow program participants, the facilitators. The idea of the preparation phase is to learn what's important for the upcoming weeks. We cover important aspects such as intention setting, the importance of set & setting for a fruitful journey, and what scientific research can tell us about what happens with our minds and body under prolonged darkness.
II. INCUBATION - DARKNESS
7 days, full-time, on-site retreat
For our time in our darkness retreat center in Southern Germany, we prepared a curriculum for you that gradually increases in intensity, prepares you for the descent into darkness, and eventually brings you back into the light. Our carefully crafted program focuses on conveying you the techniques for dealing with darkness and all its potential forms of manifestation (such as anxiety, fear, boredom, impatience, ecstasy, blissfulness, emptiness...), exercises around resistance, radical acceptance and compassion, as well as capacity building for dealing better with inner tensions and the paradoxes of being human. You will experience intense altered states first-hand through prolonged darkness and breathwork. We will offer daily check-ins while you are in the dark and are available 24/7. There is also space for contemplation and journalling to get more clarity around values, vision and purpose. You will engage in challenging but highly rewarding individual and group exercises to better understand yourself and your special gift to the world. We will use the last 1.5 days after you come back from the darkness to start the integration process together.
III. Integration
1 week, part-time, virtual session
After you return from the darkness incubation into your day-to-day life, it’s essential to cement the insights you've gained and start applying them in both your personal and professional life. You’ll have support from your fellow participants as well as from our coaches. Additional one-on-one coaching can be booked. You’ll also be welcomed into a community of individuals - our Alumni - who share your values and are there to support you while holding you accountable to the commitments you've made to yourself.
Meet The Retreat Facilitation Team
"We support you in unfolding your potential towards a life of vitality, connectedness, balance, creativity, and overall flourishing."
How PARTICIPANTS benefit from Our RETREAT program
Personal Level
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Self-knowledge
: Explore your own depths like you never did before to understand who you truly are. -
Potential
: See what you are capable of and start tapping into your full potential. -
Purpose
: Connect with that deep yearning inside of you to find your unique path in life. -
Growth
: Face your blind spots and blockages (e.g. fear, shame, anger...) to relieve unnecessary limits and constraints. -
Connection
: Experience how a deepened connection to yourself, to other people and to your environment changes the way you live and lead.
Professional Level
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Clarity
: Learn how to remain centered, playful and clear in environments of ambiguity and uncertainty. -
Resilience
: Lead from your core and become less affected by the stresses and pressures of everyday life. -
Mindsets
: Experience what mindset you are usually operating from and how you can access higher-level mindsets of systems thinking and emotional awareness. -
Vision
: Build a more authentic and meaningful vision for yourself, personally and professionally.. -
Impact
: Learn how to lead yourself and others from a position of competence and intuition: calmly, compassionately and effectively.
Dr. Dmitrij Achelrod,
Lead Facilitator
Is the EvoDARK Darkness Retreat right for you?
Book a free call with us, and let’s discuss any questions or concerns you might have. We’ll help you determine if this program aligns with your current needs and ensure you feel prepared and confident to embark on this transformative journey.
“We are here to be in service of your journey.” – Dr. Dmitrij Achelrod
YOUR INVESTMENT INTO YOUR DEVELOPMENT
We care about accessibility. This is why we offer flexible pricing with a sliding scale for private payers. Our sliding scale empowers you to choose what feels right and doable for you based on your financial situation (income, price levels in your geography, wealth…) but also considering the financial sustainability of our organization and factoring in the high costs behind offering a program like this. Below, we outline what each price level signifies to us, aiding your decision-making.
Your investment includes the entire 3-week hybrid EvoDARK Darkness Retreat Program, including
- The medical-psychological screening
- two virtual group sessions for preparation and integration
- The complete 7-day on-site program including the support by expert facilitators for a small group of 6-8 people
- A well-balanced variety of group exercises appealing to the physical, emotional and mental level to build your emotional, somatic and relational intelligence
- 1:1 sessions / personal coaching throughout the program (at least 4 individual sessions for each participant)
- 24/7 support during your incubation in darkness
- Your private accommodation in a single room and freshly cooked and delicious meals prepared by our private chef during the 7-day retreat
- Access to an alumni community of like-minded and like-hearted people interested in personal development and consciousness work
Pay only as much as it is truly worth to you
Because it is hard to imagine and anticipate the EvoDARK experience and the love and dedication our team pours into the program before attending, we’ll reach out to you again after the program to let you reconsider how much the program was worth to you. So you might re-adjust your position on the sliding scale upwards or downwards based on what the program, the experience and the commitment of the team meant to you :-).
For questions regarding the pricing or our available payment plans don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Private rates
Private rates
We care about accessibility. This is why we offer flexible pricing with a sliding scale for private payers. Our sliding scale empowers you to choose what feels right and doable for you based on your financial situation (income, price levels in your geography, wealth…) but also considering the financial sustainability of our organization and factoring in the high costs behind offering a program like this. Below, we outline what each price level signifies to us, aiding your decision-making.
Your investment includes the entire 3-week hybrid EvoDARK Darkness Retreat Program, including
- The medical-psychological screening
- two virtual group sessions for preparation and integration
- The complete 7-day on-site program including the support by expert facilitators for a small group of 6-8 people
- A well-balanced variety of group exercises appealing to the physical, emotional and mental level to build your emotional, somatic and relational intelligence
- 1:1 sessions / personal coaching throughout the program (at least 4 individual sessions for each participant)
- 24/7 support during your incubation in darkness
- Your private accommodation in a single room and freshly cooked and delicious meals prepared by our private chef during the 7-day retreat
- Access to an alumni community of like-minded and like-hearted people interested in personal development and consciousness work
Pay only as much as it is truly worth to you
Because it is hard to imagine and anticipate the EvoDARK experience and the love and dedication our team pours into the program before attending, we’ll reach out to you again after the program to let you reconsider how much the program was worth to you. So you might re-adjust your position on the sliding scale upwards or downwards based on what the program, the experience and the commitment of the team meant to you :-).
For questions regarding the pricing or our available payment plans don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Essential Information
Admission
Safety
Privacy
Accomodation
Transportation
Language
Admission
We have two guiding criteria for the admission of applicants to our program: safety and group fit.
Safety:
- Because we want to maximize your safety, we require all applicants to fill out a screening questionnaire on their mental and physical health. While we strive to adhere to the best known therapeutic practices and professional standards, we do not provide any therapeutic care or clinical treatments for mental illnesses. This is why we do not admit participants with e.g. diagnoses of depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorders.
Group fit: Curating a good group
- Group dynamics are paramount for a powerful experience – hence, unfortunately, we cannot accept every applicant that passed the medical-psychological screening.
- We aim to assemble a coherent yet diverse group of participants who can support each other during and after the program. We designed our program for people who are aware of their potential to influence others / their environment / the state of the world and want to responsibly act upon it.
- We judge the appropriateness of our applicants not by their job title but by their willingness and potential to assume responsibility for themselves and for others. Our participants must be willing to enter into an honest, open and sometimes challenging dialogue with themselves and with others. They need to be curious and willing to engage in self-exploration, reflection and deep inner work.
- This is why, prior to final admission, we have individual video / phone calls with every applicant to ensure participant-program fit.
Safety
We maximize your safety by the right screening, preparation, facilitation, and integration.
Screening:
We undertake a physical / mental health screening via an online questionnaire to minimize the risk of any potentially adverse health-related outcome.
Preparation:
Participants will learn about a responsable approach to working with intense meditative states (risk and harm reduction). In addition, they will receive guidance in how to navigate during states of altered consciousness.
Facilitation:
The darkness periods are supported by experienced facilitators and guides. Our experts give you enough freedom to make your own steps and will be always at your side in case you need their support. We offer daily check-ins and are in service 24/7 while you are in darkness.
Integration:
Darkness experiences can be very profound and transformative. Journeyers can go through intense emotions days and weeks after their stay in darkness. This is why we crafted an integration program that will help you incorporate your insights into your life in a sustainable manner.
Privacy
We know very well how important privacy is to most of our clients. We will never share any information about our clients publicly or to any third-party. We will never post photos of participants from our retreats without the prior explicit written approval from the affected participants.
We process personal data (e.g. name, email address) in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”).
Accomodation
The 7-day retreat immersion takes place in Southern Germany.
Our exclusive retreat center is located in a calm and green environment 30 car minutes away from Freiburg (I’m Breisgau).
The facilities offer a relaxing and private atmosphere with ideal conditions for deep work.
All participants will be housed in high-quality private rooms.
We will offer fresh and healthy drinks and vegetarian food daily.
Transportation
We will get in touch with you regarding your logistics as soon as you have been admitted to one of our retreat programs.
Language
The main language for the group sessions (virtual and on-site) and of the learning material is usually English. Some retreat programs might be conducted in other languages (such as German). Please reach out to us if language might be a barrier for your participation and we discuss the options with you individually.
Our facilitators and guides speak multiple languages and your 1:1 sessions plus individual conversations on-site can be in German, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian or Spanish as well. Let us know during the application phase if you have any questions or concerns regarding languages.