Aaron Rodgers has sensationally revealed that 'hundreds' of NFL players have asked him about his psychedelics consumption, claiming that he's sat 'in ceremony' with teammates as the Jets quarterback continued to praise ayahuasca at a conference.
On Wednesday, Rodgers, 39, attended the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver, Colorado, where he opened up on his experiences with ayahuasca -- a sort of psychoactive and entheogenic brewed drink traditionally used both socially and as a ceremonial or shamanic spiritual medicine among the indigenous people living in the Amazon basin.
The infusion causes altered states of consciousness, often known as 'psychedelic experiences,' which include visual hallucinations and altered perceptions of reality.
'I've been fortunate enough in the last few years to be able to sit in ceremony with teammates,' said Rodgers, a 2011 Super Bowl (XLV) champion and four-time NFL MVP.
'I'm telling you, it is radically life-changing and it's wild to be in a locker room and look over and just know, like, I've been in the maloca [an ancestral long house used by indigenous people of the Amazon]. It's pretty special. It changes the dynamic, for sure.
'And in the process, like I said, there's been hundreds of NFL guys who have reached out. [...] It's been really really fun to be able to connect with these guys who've done this work or was fascinated by it and want to learn more about it.'
Rodgers on went to appear grateful and 'thankful for those opportunities' because to him, 'it just changes the dynamic when you're in a room with somebody, you're in a huddle with somebody, on a team with somebody, you're talking, and like man, I've been there with you and that's my brother.'
'When I first did ''aya'' in 2020, I remember thinking afterwards, like, I'm going to have to talk about this at some point,' added the 10-time Pro Bowl selectee . 'Are people ready? How will it be received? Then I won MVP. Then I did it again. I said OK, I can probably talk about it now. But the cool thing has been the response. Not from the media that calls me a druggie, a hippie or whatever it was.'
Speaking to Aubrey Marcus - the founder of Onnit, a 'globally disruptive brand based on holistic health,' and an advocate for psychedelic medicine -- Rodgers vowed to give his support to the legal integration of serotonergic hallucinogens in modern-day society.
'We have the opportunity to change the conversation by dispelling these archaic myths about the dangers of them or the negative side effects or whatever might be and start to share the actual wisdom and truth about it,' said the Jets' newest field general.
'It's a permission slip for other people to stand up, talk about their own experiences, to join in and to dive in and to learn about it. And I think that's how we move this conversation forward, is more people to be out there, comfortable talking about their own journeys. Their spiritual journey, their medicine journey, their ceremonies.
'So we can bring this to people who need it.'
Rodgers first spoke up on his experiences with ayahuasca on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast in August 2022, before appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience later that same month, to talk about the benefits he received from the psychoactive drink.
He claims that the use of psychedelics can help beat depression by teaching people to love themselves.
'[...] When you dissolve ego, the amount of love that you can give back to yourself and then other people, it takes away, for me, so much judgement of myself and others, so much separation between myself and others.
'The greater sense of connection was overwhelming when I kind of came out of that and got back to ''reality,'' or whatever. It's like 'oh s***, now here's the integration.'' Here's me in a different form. Here's my reflection that I see of myself and you, and we're all f***ing connected in such a deeper way.'
Rodgers has admitted to using ayahuasca during the 2020 and 2022 offseasons and previously suggested it helped towards his MVP-winning performances.
'I did ayahuasca in 2020 and I won two MVPs,' Rodgers told Fox Sports 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.'
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.
Over the last year, legislators in Colorado have pushed for the decriminalization of the use of psychedelic mushrooms after the state's capital, Denver, decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms in 2019.
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