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Aaron Rogers has some questionable views. But his most recent confession is one we applaud: Ayahuasca, the sacred vine mixture from the Amazon rainforest, helped him secure two MVP titles in the 2020 and 2021 NFL seasons, USA Today was the first to report.
It all went down on wellness entrepreneur Aubry Marcus’ podcast. Rodgers opened up about a trip he took to South America where he drank Ayahuasca for the first time, and it helped him unlock elevated performances on the field.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I really don’t. I don’t really believe in coincidences at this point. It’s the universe bringing things to happen when they’re supposed to happen.
“There’s signs and synchronicities all around us at all times if we’re awake enough to see them and to take them in and to listen to our intuition when it’s speaking to us or pounding us in the head saying, ‘Hey dummy, this is what you’re supposed to be doing.'”
Rodgers says he was called to do Ayahuasca after experiencing a blissful mushroom trip on the beach; a day he says was “one of the best days of his life.” He says the sacred vine has helped with his mental health and given him “unconditional self-love,” which has had a positive impact on his relationships.
He also said he doesn’t like that people focus on the negatives of ayahuasca – nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and hallucinations among the many side effects – rather than the “deep and meaningful and crazy mind-expanding possibilities and also deep self-love and healing that can happen on the other side” after taking the drug. Ayahuasca contains DMT (dimethyltryptamine), which is a Schedule I drug in the United States.
“For me, I didn’t do that and think ‘oh, I’m never playing football again,'” Rodgers said. “No, it gave me a deep and meaningful appreciation for life. My intention the first night going in was ‘I want to feel what pure love feels like.’ That was my intention. And I did. I really did. I had a magical experience with the sensation of feeling a hundred 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.”
The experience, Rodgers said, “set me on my course to be able to go back in to my job and have a different perspective on things. To be way more free at work, as a leader, as a teammate, as a friend, as a lover. I really feel like that experience paved the way for me to have the best season of my career (in 2020).”
Following the Ayahuasca experience, he said: “[I] knew that I was never going to be the same.”
He was right! According to the Bleacher Report, Rodgers has played some of the best football of his life in the past two years. “The 38-year-old completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 4,299 yards, 48 touchdowns, and just five interceptions in 2020 and followed that up with 4,115 yards, 37 touchdowns, and just four interceptions last season,” Mike Chiari writes.
Rodgers went 13-3 as a starter both seasons and helped Green Bay earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Playoff success eluded the Packers both times, however. The Packers’ 2020 season ended with a home playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game, and last season they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round.
The four-time NFL MVP is still in search of his second Super Bowl ring. Maybe Grandmother Ayahuasca can help him find it next season.
