Trainings and excursions, massages and romantic dinners… And this is not a complete list of what you can do in complete darkness if you wish. The industry of new sensations is gaining momentum. Why do we want to escape from the light at least for a while and what do we see more clearly where nothing can be seen?
To get closer to the light, man has always walked into the darkness. Monasteries in the thickness of the rocks, sketes and catacombs are known in almost any religion. True, hermits and monks spent many years in them. Today, there are hardly many who want to follow their example. But what about a few hours or days? Such useful experiments are quite possible to afford.
Unusual experience
To say that the eyes get used to the dark can only be people who have never been in complete darkness. Because the eyes get used just to the light, no matter how weak it may be. If there is no light at all, there is nothing to get used to. In the restaurant Dans le Noir (French for “in the dark”) of St. Petersburg’s Sokos Hotel Palace Bridge, I was convinced of this from my own experience. You can close your eyes, you can open them, you can wave your hand in front of your nose, you still can’t see anything.
The restaurant is six years old. It hosts corporate parties, marriage proposals are regularly heard, and lovers come here every day. The menu is kept secret. Guests choose only color: red menu – meat, green – vegetarian. Everything else has to be figured out along the way. Only after dinner, when you come out into the light, will you get photos of the dishes you just ate to find out how correct your guesses were.
We stop focusing on social conventions, become more ourselves
How can you eat without seeing anything? It turned out that it is possible. During the experiment, even the author’s white shirt was not damaged.
But the main thing is still not in food. There really is something special going on in the dark. Acquaintances become even closer, and warm relations are instantly established with strangers. “We are no longer guided by social conventions,” explains business coach Igor Klyushanov, “we are becoming more ourselves than in front of everyone.”
Confidence
At Dans le Noir we exchanged jokes with two companies in different corners of the room. And with these people (whom I have not seen, and if I ever see, I will not recognize) I felt cheerful and comfortable, as among old friends.
Amazing relationships develop with blind waiters. You enter the hall, putting your hand on their shoulder – how else to get to the table? They move your hands, helping you find plates, cutlery and glasses, holding you, helping you to sit down, escorting you by the hand to the exit. These touches give rise to a feeling of boundless trust and even unity with a person whom you previously would have considered helpless, but without whose help you now cannot take a step.
If we stay in the dark for a long time, is it not harmful to the eyes? It turns out to be rather useful. Some vision problems are caused by spasm of the eye muscles: in this case, after being in the dark, vision may even improve.
Most guests spend time in the restaurant with pleasure. To understand this, our waitress Natasha has an unmistakable criterion. “Here is your glass,” she says, moving my hand carefully. “Thanks, I see,” I say, and she laughs. I do not understand what’s the matter. “You said ‘I see’. This is a sure sign that the guest is doing well.”
Sensitivity
There are already several restaurants “in the dark” in Russia. Through such projects, all of us, both sighted and blind, are discovering that those who are blind have special skills that are of great value. For example, blind massages are popular in Europe. In Russia, they are still little known, and in Paris there is a whole SPA Dans le Noir Institute.
“All blind people develop compensatory functions, primarily tactile ones,” says founder Didier Roche. They can say “I love you” to each other with their hands without saying anything. They fill every touch with love.” It is customary to say about good massage therapists what they see with their fingers. For blind professionals, this is doubly true.
According to the clients of the Parisian SPA, massage therapists accurately capture not only muscle clamps, but in general any sources and zones of physical discomfort. And they work with them amazingly accurately and carefully.
Exemption
There is another feature that makes massage in the dark attractive for many women. “Do not feel like under a magnifying glass, do not shy away from your reflection in dozens of tactless mirrors, backhanded by self-esteem? All this is possible only in the dark! – says Didier Roche enthusiastically. – I remember an 88-year-old woman who was almost in tears thanking her blind masseuse. She admitted that she dreamed of a good massage for many years, but she was stopped by shame for her old body. It was a very strong emotional moment for all of us.”
Training in the dark focuses on the psychological effect of invisibility. Some are led by blind trainers, such as the Dialogue in the Dark project, which originated from an exhibition by social entrepreneur Andreas Heinecke that aimed to give the sighted an insight into the life of the blind. Then business trainings were created on its basis, because it turned out that in the dark people discover new abilities in themselves and communicate differently.
As soon as vision is turned off, habitual patterns of behavior appear with particular clarity.
Other trainings require the facilitator to see the participants. So, Igor Klyushanov and Gestalt therapist Valeria Raido together conduct a training where they offer to put tight bandages on their eyes, while they themselves give exercises and observe.
“As soon as vision is turned off, habitual patterns (schemes, models) of behavior appear with particular clarity,” explains Valeria Raido, “and all those “rakes” that a person constantly steps on and which remain invisible to him, in the dark become so obvious, that it is impossible not to notice them.”
For example, a simple task: choose a partner for the exercise. Despite the fact that the number of participants in the group is even, there is always someone who cannot find a pair. Is it because he is not able to do it in life? “Then we suggest this time to behave differently than always,” says Igor Klyushanov. “We select a kind of communicative constructor from various exercises that provide an opportunity to try yourself in various ways of communication.”
But why is it better to do it in the dark? “Because we are less busy with the outside world,” the business coach replies, “and more with our feelings. What has been clamped and hidden inside us is released. Often these are fears that we do not admit to ourselves in the light of day. In the dark we can reach them and decide what to do with them.
Way to yourself
Training in the dark is always focused on relationships – with yourself and with other people. “Often in the course of classes, the topic of relationships with parents, childhood traumas come up, which we can gently work through,” explains Valeria Raido.
Staying in the dark can last from one and a half to eight hours a day, and the training as a whole can last several days. But when the work is over, many people ask in disappointment: “Is that all?” They feel that they lived at this time a full life, much richer than usual. And many come back to repeat this experience. “And some admit that when they find themselves in a difficult situation, they put a blindfold on their eyes at home,” says Valeria Raido.
They know that darkness will help them see themselves and others better.