Crestone, Colorado · Chamma Ling Retreat Center

Rest in complete darkness, with support close by.

Four nights in your own private cabin, about 72 hours of them in total darkness. Two warm meals a day, a daily check-in, and nothing else asked of you.

A small adobe-coloured retreat cabin with a red door among piñon trees under a bright morning sky
  • 4 nightson site at Chamma Ling
  • About 72 hoursin complete darkness
  • Private cabinfour guests per retreat
  • 2 warm mealsdelivered each day
  • Daily check-inwith your facilitator
Cabin bedroom with the lights on: a single bed, wood floor, and blue blackout curtains over the window
What it is

Time away from every source of stimulation

A darkness retreat is a rare opportunity to step away from external stimulation and turn inward, toward stillness, presence, and inner knowing. With nothing to look at and nowhere to be, the nervous system is given room to rest deeply.

There is no method to follow here. No substances, no teacher, no formal practice. You don't need prior meditation or retreat experience. What matters most is a genuine willingness to be present with yourself, even when that presence is unfamiliar.

How the four nights unfold

Into the dark, and back out slowly

  1. Day 1 · 3:00 pm

    Arrive

    You are met and walked to your cabin. Orientation, dinner, then you enter the dark that evening.

  2. About 72 hours

    In the dark

    Rest, sleep, sit, listen. Two warm meals arrive each day, and your facilitator checks in once daily.

  3. Final evening

    Emergence

    A gradual return: soft natural light, a slow walk on the land, time to write.

  4. Final night

    A night in the light

    One more night on site before you travel. An optional closing circle is offered.

  5. Day 5 · 12:00 pm

    Depart

    You leave at noon, unhurried.

The snow-covered Crestone peaks at dusk, reflected in a still lake
The Crestone peaks at dusk, across the San Luis Valley. Photo: National Park Service.
Dates & pricing

Spring 2027, at a rate that fits your means

Seven retreats run back to back from March 15 to April 12, 2027. Every guest receives the same retreat. You choose your rate, and we don't ask for proof.

Base$1,600

Covers the cost of your retreat.

Supporter$2,000

Covers your retreat and puts $400 toward a reduced rate for someone who couldn't otherwise come.

Sponsor$2,500

Covers your retreat and puts $900 toward someone else's, more than half the cost of a place.

These are the Standard cabin prices. The Premium cabin, the larger of the four, is $300 more at every rate: $1,900, $2,300 or $2,800.

“No substance, no teacher, no practice to follow — just me and the dark. Because of that, the insights and revelations I received felt undeniably my own.”
James Farmer · founder and guide

Questions first? Talk with us.

Share a few details and we will follow up to schedule a brief call. No decision needed yet.