Notable New York Post sports columnist Ian O' Connor recently released his book called "Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers," and by reading it fans now have a greater understanding of how the New York Jets quarterback started taking ayahuasca.
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For those who don't know, ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive beverage, which alters a person's thinking, sense of time, and emotions, in addition to leading one to having hallucinations.
As it turns out, Rodgers, 40, who is a 4x MVP and Super Bowl winning QB, publicly admits and advocates using this psychedelic, as he was first introduced to it by his old high school teammate/buddy, Jordan Russell.
That is to say, Russell told the author Connor how he himself once had a vision of Rodgers' untapped potential while using the drug.
"I saw him for exactly who he is and it brought me to tears. I stand in awe of him as a man, and in so many ways he's trapped inside of his own archetype, trapped inside this shell, this ego of a famous football player, when really what he is, is a warrior of a man who has an absolutely gigantic heart and who just wants to love and be loved."
Then after sharing the news with his NFL quarterback friend, Rodgers thought it would be a good idea to give into peer pressure and try it out for himself.
So that's when Rodgers and girlfriend at the time, race car driver Danica Patrick, took a trip to Peru together to test out the effects of ayahuasca, hoping to also have some sort of visual enlightening experience.
With this in mind, Rodgers believes it actually positively impacted his work career on the gridiron, as he even credits his best two NFL seasons in 2020 and 2021 to the psychedelic drug.
"I really feel like that experience paved the way for me to have the best season of my career. I had a magical experience with the sensation of feeling 100 different hands on my body imparting a blessing of love and forgiveness for myself and gratitude for this life from what seemed to be my ancestors," Rodgers told the Aubrey Marcus Podcast at the time.
Despite some critics accusing Rodgers of being a drugged out hippie, no one can criticize the fact that he threw for 8,414 yards in addition to 85 touchdowns and only nine interceptions in the two seasons after being introduced to the South American hallucinatory drink.
The Hail Mary 👑
Nobody does it better than @aaronrodgers12@packers 🧀#TouchdownTuesday pic.twitter.com/O7awwgNeze
— NFL UK & Ireland (@NFLUKIRE) April 28, 2020
"To me, one of the core tenets of your mental health is that self-love. That's what ayahuasca did for me, was help me see how to unconditionally love myself," Rodgers said. "The greatest gift I can give my teammates in my opinion is to be able to show up and to be someone who can model unconditional love to them."
Yet, the perception of Rodgers being a "team player" has recently been called into question, as the well-accomplished quarterback has been criticized in the media for skipping team minicamp practices to go on retreats during the offseason.
Randy Scott on Aaron Rodgers: "He's on the wrong side of 40. As somebody who's been through a midlife crisis and I've got four tattoos to show for it. This man's midlife crisis is Ayahuasca, Egypt trips, and sparring with his head coach in the media in the biggest city in the… pic.twitter.com/mT0MBFPXWH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 15, 2024
Heading into his 20th NFL season, Rodgers is currently ninth all-time in passing yards (59,055) and fifth all-time in touchdowns (475).
Rodgers will look to bounce back from last year's season-ending injury that he suffered on the first drive of the first game, as the Jets will begin the 2024 season facing off with the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football, September 9 at 8:15 ET.
