I just had one of the best months of my life at a resort called Serenity living with some of the worlds top tantra practitioners in a stunning location on a magical island called Koh Phangan in Thailand.

This is a co-working co-living community curated by my dear friend Shashi Solluna, a taoist tantra teacher. I had co-created her debut meditation album that is now being signed by Hay House.

We are all at around the table on one of last few days together having a last supper to celebrate the launch of our album with the rest of the community. The soaring highs, deep depth of connections, and positive insights and emotions created from this month of embracing tantra at a deep level for the first time over shadowed any thoughts of the trip I was about to embark on to Zorba The Buddha.

This is an osho based retreat centre found in a tranquil sanctuary in the heart of Delhi, the capital of my mother land India. I had no idea of what I was about to really put myself through and the real seriousness of the revelation and deep insights I was about to receive.

All talk of this amongst my friends was making fun of the obvious question, why on earth would anyone want to spend an entire week in complete darkness?

Many spiritual and shamanic traditions have used meditations in pitch darkness as a method of healing, transformation and awakening. How can this simple technique be a catalyst of transformation?

If we take a look at the chemistry of the brain we can begin to understand the biochemistry behind awakening.

The Pineal Gland

PINEAL GLAND

It is thought that the biological structure associated with the third eye, or inner eye, is a gland called the pineal gland. Some theories say that the gland can become calcified, and thus our inner vision becomes dulled or blocked. By purifying this gland, it is decalcified and thus activated.

Activation of the pineal gland may be what ancient mystics have called “opening your third eye”. Spiritual awakening is a shift in perception. It is not the outer world that changes, but the inner world. When the perception shifts from seeing separation to seeing oneness, it is said we see with our inner eye open. Along the way, the practitioner may or may not experience shifts in perception such as psychic abilities, astral travel and lucid dreaming.

The pineal gland has been called “the seat of the soul” (Descartes and Bailey) and is thought to be a very profound spiritual center of the brain. In Tao Tantra, there is a term called the “crystal palace” used in meditation. This is said to be connected to both the third eye and the crown chakra. Thus to activate it is to activate the higher spiritual centers.

DMT in the brain

DMT MOLCULE

The chemistry of the brain gets really interesting when we start to look deeper into the pineal gland. We find that under circumstances of light deprivation, the pineal produces a psychedelic substance called DMT. This is a naturally occurring substance, which occurs at birth and death in the human.

DMT also occurs in a shamanic plant medicine called “Ayahuasca”, which is drunk for visionary purposes. However, it has been discovered that an individual can develop release of DMT naturally within their own brain, in a more natural and gentle way through meditation, darkness retreats and pineal decalcification.

 Darkness Retreats

Retreating into pitch darkness for several days thus has a major effect upon the brain, most notably the pineal gland and the release of natural DMT. This can facilitate a powerful shift in consciousness. The ultimate intention of such meditation is to see the world as interconnected. To see beyond illusion and separation.

“The pineal gland needs pure darkness to emit melatonin, which produces serotonin. These chemicals are crucial to psychic awareness, and thus in turn activates your pineal gland.”