Aaron Rodgers is finally set to speak up since returning from his four-day darkness retreat… but it’s unrelated to his NFL future, as the quarterback will talk about psychedelics at a conference this summer – amid a potential trade to the Jets.
From June 19-23, the 39-year-old will feature as a celebrity guest on the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies’ ‘Psychedelic Science 2023’ event in Denver, Colorado, also known as the ‘largest psychedelic gathering in history’.
Previously, Rodgers, a Super Bowl champion, has opened up about his use of the plant-based psychedelic, Ayahuasca, which he often credits with enhancing his on-field performances in 2020 and 2021 – the last two seasons of which he won the NFL MVP Award.
‘I did Ayahuasca in 2020 and I won two MVPs,’ Rodgers told Fox in September. ‘I don’t believe that it’s a coincidence. I don’t really believe in coincidences.
‘I believe in science and synchronicities, and I really feel like that what that allowed me to do is to have a greater love for the game that I play, greater love for my teammates and I had maybe my best season of my career in 2020 and then followed up last year with an even greater integration of a lot of those lessons.’
The 10-time Pro Bowler also endorsed the hallucinogenic tea, often consumed by tribal societies in the Amazon as shamanic spiritual medicine, during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, revealing that he no longer fears death and things that are out of his own control.
‘I definitely had a fear of death,’ Rodgers said. ‘And Ayahuasca, and psilocybin [mushrooms] actually, really helped me with that and relieved a lot of the stress around the idea of needing to accomplish things before I actually die.’
A medical-grade version of the popular hippy brew Ayahuasca could be sold by American pharmaceuticals within the next decade.
Filament Health, a Canadian psychedelic drug company, has created a medicinal form of the powerful psychedelic which can be taken orally as a pill. The firm hopes to push the medical-grade version through an FDA trial in 2023.
Ayahuasca is being touted as an alternative treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression after becoming popular with the backing of celebrities such as Rodgers.
But Americans currently need to travel to Central and South America for expensive retreats and religious experiences involving the potent brew.
However, its therapeutic benefits are mainly anecdotal, and a growing body of evidence shows that the drug also carries the risk of long-lasting effects on mental health.
In the past, Rodgers revealed that he drank the hallucinogenic brew during a trip to Peru in 2020, emerging with ‘a deep and meaningful appreciation for life,’ as well as a closer connection with teammates that’s helped him capture consecutive MVP honors.
The psychedelic trip did not violate NFL rules on prohibited substances, but it did give him new perspective on himself and his connection to ‘all sentient beings and all plants and fungi.’
Rodgers even spoke about his trippy experience with podcaster Joe Rogan in August, suggesting that a lot of the world’s problems could be fixed if more people took psychedelic mushrooms.
‘Isn’t it funny that that sounds like a crazy thing to say, but that would literally fix the world: if more people had psychedelic trips and more people had more experiences that dissolved their ego and more people had an understanding that community isn’t just a bunch of people that live together, it’s a bunch of people that care about each other — and that we could treat the world like a community,’ Rogan said.
‘Couldn’t agree with you more,’ Rodgers replied.
The Packers quarterback isn’t the only athlete that’ll be attending June’s conference, with Winter Olympics silver medalist and figure skater Sasha Cohen also partaking as a special guest.
And with the event being three months away from now, fans will most likely learn what’s next in store for Rodgers, who has yet to confirm whether he’s retiring or playing on in Green Bay or somewhere else. (Full Story)