Who are the two people who’ll be bringing lunch to your dark anteroom for a week? Fair question. You’re about to travel across Europe to spend days in total darkness at the bottom of our garden – you should know who lives at the top of it.
Tom & Lenka, dark retreat guides since 2013
We’re Tom and Lenka Roud, a married couple with four children, whom we taught at home. We were both born in Most in North Bohemia, lived for years at the foot of the Ore Mountains – the Erzgebirge, if you’re looking from the Saxon side – and today we live in Lomec near Kutná Hora, in the log house fifty metres from the cabins.
We’ve been running dark retreats since 2013, and more than 3,000 people have spent time in our cabins since then. I (Tom) spent a week alone in the dark myself, so I know first-hand what I’m sending you into. Lenka works in psychology and with people on their personal development. Between the two of us, we’ve seen a lot of nervous first evenings and a lot of quiet last mornings.
Why we do this
Because we keep seeing what a few days without light, screens and other people’s expectations do. Not miracles – we don’t sell those. People catch up on sleep. They hear their own thoughts, including the annoying ones. They come out into the daylight slower and quieter, often surprised that it was easier than they had imagined. Watching that, year after year, is reason enough for us.
What we stand for – and what we don’t
- Freedom first. You can, and you don’t have to. You decide how long you stay, what you do in the dark and when you switch the light back on.
- No gurus. We aren’t masters from the East, we don’t follow any religion and we won’t try to convert you to anything – not even to our way of seeing things.
- No promises. We’re not a clinic and we don’t fix people. We offer darkness, silence and care, and we tell you honestly who a dark retreat isn’t suitable for.
- Close by, not in your way. We bring your food, we’re fifty metres away if you need us, and otherwise we leave you in peace.
Freedom and love are the two things we care about most. If that sounds a bit grand for two people who spend a good part of the day carrying soup across an orchard – well, that’s exactly where it shows 🙂
In the Czech Republic we run the same centre under the Czech name “Léčba tmou”, and Chamber Rest is its name for travellers from the rest of Europe.
Get in touch
Write to us with any question, however small – about trains, health, food or whether a week is too much for a first time. We’d rather answer ten questions before you come than have you wondering in the dark. We speak Czech and English; Tom is happy to talk on the phone in English.
- E-mail: info@chamberrest.eu
- Phone: +420 608 08 33 33 (English)
- Address: Lomec 61, 286 01 Úmonín, Czech Republic
How to get here from Prague, the airport or your own front door is on the page dark retreat near Prague. Practical questions are answered in the FAQ.
See you in the dark – Tom & Lenka