Andrew Holecek: Stop, Drop, and Be Held in the Dark
5/26/20261 hr 7 min
What if the most transformative practice available to us requires nothing but complete darkness? Tami Simon speaks with interdisciplinary scholar and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner Andrew Holecek—author of Total Eclipse of the Mind—about the ancient practice of dark retreat: what happens to the mind when all light is removed, why it's been called "meditation times a thousand," and how to bring its power into everyday life.
This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.
This episode is sponsored by Omega Institute, a global gathering hub for lifelong learning and spiritual exploration. Located in upstate New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega offers weekend workshops, special events, rest and rejuvenation retreats, professional trainings, online learning, and more. Discover what calls to you at eomega.org/true.
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First 90 secondsTami Simon· Host0:00
The Sounds True Podcast Network. [gentle music] Now, you know, Andrew, as I was reading Total Eclipse of the Mind, I have to say I fell in love with the dark, and I pulled out of my closet, uh, a mindfold that I have of- Oh. I was like, "Okay, I don't wanna just keep reading about this. I wanna get into it." [upbeat music] In this episode of Insights at the Edge, my guest is Andrew Holecek. Andrew Holecek is, first of all, a friend. He's someone I admire. He's an interdisciplinary scholar practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and other non-dual wisdom traditions, who has a terrific gift at making deep and esoteric teachings accessible and practical, including Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the Bardo, the passage between life and death, teachings on sleep and dream yoga, how we can actually do spiritual practice while we're sleeping, and the practice of dark retreat, full immersion in darkness, which is what we're gonna be talking about today. He's the author of the new Sounds True book, Total Eclipse of the Mind: Unleashing the Power