Aaron Rodgers begins his four-day retreat into the dark on Monday as he ponders whether to continue playing football.
The 39-year-old Green Bay Packers quarterback opened up about it on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week, but didn’t say exactly when he’ll start.
But according to NFL.Com, Rodgers will begin retirement Monday.
That week, Rodgers said, “It’s four nights of total darkness. You’re not locked in, you can leave if you can’t, you can just walk out the door.
“But it’s a darkness retreat, I’ve had a number of friends who’ve done it and had some profound experiences, and it’s something I’ve had on my radar for a couple of years.
“I felt like it would be great regardless of where I leaned after this season. So it’s been months and months and months in the calendar and it’s coming in a few weeks.
Aaron Rodgers is taking a retreat into the dark to consider whether to continue playing in the NFL
Rodgers (right) has been pondering what to do since the Packers lost to the Lions last month
“It’s a room, it’s a little house. There’s a two-way, like a little slot, where they’ll drop off some food for you. But it’s isolation and darkness, no music, no nothing. Just myself, isolation.
“I’m still in the art of thinking about my future. After my isolation retreat I will be ready to make a decision.’
He was asked, almost jokingly, if there was a bathroom or if he wore a diaper, to which he replied, “I guess you can wear adult diapers if you want to, but there’s actually a bathroom, yes.”
He continued, “I think there’s definitely a lot of sleep involved. I’m not taking anything with me. nothing inside If it’s too much, I just walk out. The door is unlocked – if you want to go, go.’
The Packers failed to make the playoffs after losing the final day of the regular season to the Detroit Lions on Jan. 8.
Rodgers said immediately after that game that he would need time to consider what was next for him and it has since become apparent that the Packers would be willing to trade him if he continued playing.
“It’s a real thing,” Rodgers said of his struggle to make a decision. “So it will be important to get through this week, do my isolation retreat and just be able to look at all things about my future and make a decision that is best for me in the highest interest of my happiness.” . ‘
Rodgers has previously spoken openly about using ayahuasca during the 2020 and 2022 off-seasons.
‘[There was] Me and I to ayahuasca,” Rodgers told Joe Rogan last year. “It was really interesting to see people stretching out across the league – and there were a lot of people out of the league, entertainers, athletes, just friends from the past, people who work in the league [Packers practice] Facility, just the 9 to 5 people – all interested in plant medicine,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers said he wanted to make a decision that was “in the highest interest of my happiness.”
Rodgers has previously spoken openly about using ayahuasca on two separate occasions
Rodgers could be traded by the Packers if he wants to play at least one more season
“I think it was really interesting. I think there’s a hunger for what I experienced, what you talked about on Mushrooms — this death of ego, this realization that we are all connected, this greater sense of what community is.
WHAT IS A DARK RETREAT?
According to the Hermitage Retreat website – it is unknown if the Rodgers company is involved – a dark retreat is “an unparalleled experience of intense seclusion in which the practitioner is deprived of all light and sensory distractions and thus plunges into a deep witnessing.” consciousness of spirit and finally experiences the perception of the inner light of pure consciousness.
“Retreating into total darkness is a practice common to many of the ancient and contemporary spiritual traditions around the world.
“From the monks and lamas of Tibet to the Kogi Mamos of Colombia; to the ancient Egyptians and the mystics of 15th-century France, dark retreats have brought revelation and enlightenment to countless practitioners seeking inner light.’
Each request to participate in a Darkness request is considered individually. Participants receive two vegan meals per day.
“For me, when you dissolve the ego, the amount of love you can give back to yourself and then to other people, it takes away so much judgment of myself and others, so much separation between myself and others.
“The greater sense of connection was overwhelming as I sort of got out of it and came back to ‘reality’ or whatever. It’s like, ‘Oh shit, here comes the integration.
“Here I am in a different form. Here’s my reflection I see of me and you and we’re all fucking connected in such a deeper way. I simply make a plant that has been used in the Amazon jungle for generations.
“And I feel the same way about mushrooms – just an incredible connection to nature and to life and to all sentient beings and all plants and fungi.
“From my former self, I feel like the anger and bitterness and resentment and negativity that I kind of like, standard that I walk around with — and it wasn’t like a super high level — but I felt like I got out of those experiences coming out, it’s like, ‘that doesn’t even matter,’ he said. “Kindness is important. connection counts.
“Being present with people, having conversations is important,” Rodgers continued, emphasizing as he began targeting digital communications.
“Put away your frigging technology and connect with them — because I think at a deeper level we all just want to be seen and understood — and that’s why social media is such a platform because everyone’s just, ‘fuck, look at me.’ ! That’s my opinion and it’s bloody important!’
Rodgers drew criticism on social media back in November when it was revealed the Packers QB was unvaccinated and infected with COVID-19.
The controversy began ahead of the 2021 season when Rodgers was asked if he was vaccinated, instead telling reporters he was “immunized” against COVID-19.
What Rodgers didn’t explain at the time was that he wasn’t receiving a vaccine, but rather a doctor-prescribed therapeutic regimen aimed at boosting his resistance to the virus.
Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers didn’t make the playoffs in the 2023 season
Rodgers won the Pro-Am with Ben Silverman at Pebble Beach in California this weekend
That important distinction was clarified in late 2021 when Rodgers tested positive for coronavirus and was subsequently required to quarantine for 10 days—the minimum time an unvaccinated player must be quarantined under league rules at the time (the NFL has since shortened the quarantine period).
After initially blaming the media and the “woke mob” for the misunderstanding, Rodgers told radio host and former NFL player McAfee on Nov. 9 that he wanted “to apologize to anyone who felt misled.”
Last week Rodgers teamed up with Ben Silverman and won the Pro-Am at Pebble Beach in California.
But he was criticized by the PGA Tour’s Keith Mitchell, who said it was “absolutely c**p” that his handicap was adjusted from three to 10 to meet the demands of Pebble Beach.
“I think Josh (Allen) and I won. Aaron Rodgers doesn’t count,” Mitchell said firmly. “His handicap was c**p. If we finish second behind Aaron then I think we’ll win the trophy.’