Aaron Rodgers has opened about experiencing a “deeper love” for himself while using ayahuasca, a psychedelic drug.
The 39-year-old football player revealed he took part in a three-night ceremony, where he used the psychedelic, during an interview with Men’s Health. He said that when he drank the hallucinogenic tea under the guidance of a shaman, he had to put “a lot of trust” into this process.
“You have to surrender to the master plant teacher that is ayahuasca, and there’s naturally some fear around that,” he said. “And when you do, some pretty incredible things can happen, as was evidenced by night two of my most recent journey.”
According to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, ayahuasca is “a plant-based psychedelic,” which “can alter a person’s thinking, sense of time and emotions”.
Speaking to the publication, Rodgers noted that while he was “still a little resistant” during the first night of the ceremony, he “fully surrendered to the process and the master teacher” by night two. As a result, he said that he was able to feel his emotions in a much deeper way and change his opinions about those around him.
“There’s a lot of overall happiness that exists when you have a deeper love for yourself,” Rodgers continued. “It actually allows you, I feel, to give and receive love better and interact with people with less judgement and less projection. So that’s one thing I’ve really been working on.”
The Green Bay Packers quarterback acknowledged that he’s unsure if he’ll use ayahuasca again, explaining: “If I feel called to sit with that plant medicine or another plant medicine, I will. But at this particular moment, I don’t feel called.”
Earlier this month, Rodgers revealed how ayahuasca, and psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic substance found in certain types of mushrooms, helped him overcome his “fear of death”.
During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, he said that taking psychedelic drugs has helped him see death as “more of a passage” into another “chapter of life”.
“So yeah, I definitely had a fear of death, and ayahuasca and psilocybin actually really helped me with that and relieved a lot of the stress around needing to accomplish things before I die,” he explained. “I think when you’ve seen the other side, it makes the idea of death more of a passage and less of an ending. More of just the next chapter of life.”
Elsewhere in his interview with Men’s Health, Rodgers revealed another thing that benefits his mental health is doing the dishes. He described how “meditative” the chore is.
“It’s one of my favourite activities in the world,” he said. “I think meditation can get skewed at times, like you have to go in some sort of trance and start om-ing or whatever, but I feel like I can go into a meditative space doing the dishes. I can also get it with an instrumental soundtrack going on, just sitting on my couch in the sunroom, without my phone on, just my eyes closed.
The athlete went on to detail how he practises silent meditation, allowing him to “calm [his] mind” so it’s “not racing”.
“It’s natural to have 50,000-plus different thoughts that go through your mind on a daily basis,” he added. “But how can you learn to quiet that a little bit and settle into the calm and ease of the day, so you’re just a little less stressed, a little more present, and a little more available to your teammates?”
