Aaron Rodgers Shines Light on Psychedelic Ceremonies With Teammates

Professional athletes are typically scared to talk about their experiences with illegal substances. Aaron Rodgers just spent another hour on the topic.

Appearing at the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in downtown Denver, the New York Jets quarterback told his "best friend" and podcaster Aubrey Marcus that he's far from the only professional athlete who's used ayahuasca, psilocybin or other psychedelics. According to Rodgers, "hundreds" of his fellow NFL players have reached out to share their own experiences with psychedelics or ask questions about his.

"If you do anything outside of the dinosaur norm of the NFL, you’re an outlier or you don’t care about football or you don’t love football the right way," a laid-back Rodgers told a crowd at the Colorado Convention Center that included plenty of people wearing Green Bay Packers jerseys and at least one person in a cheesehead hat.

The four-time NFL MVP went on to say that "hundreds of NFL guys have reached out through text or whatever the young kids do these days — DMs and different shit" to talk psychedelics since he shared a story about taking ayahuasca on Marcus's podcast last year. Rodgers even hinted that his former Green Bay Packers teammates have participated in ayahuasca ceremonies with him.

"I've been fortunate enough in the last three years to be able to sit in ceremony with teammates," he said. "It just changes the dynamic when you're in a room with somebody [or] you’re in a huddle with somebody…you’re just, like, 'That’s my brother,' and it changes the dynamics of everybody."

According to Rodgers (and plenty of other people), doing psychedelics together can be an "initiatory" experience that forms bonds. "You have your friends, your close friends, and then your ceremony friends," he added.

A plant-based psychedelic consumed through tea, ayahuasca is native to South America. It's traditionally used in a group setting, after which people share and discuss vulnerable points in their lives. The psychoactive ingredient in ayahuasca, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), helps users confront and sometimes eliminate addictive, anxious and depressive symptoms, according to participants, with some users reporting increased self-awareness, emotional and social functioning, empathy and creativity after participating.

DMT, along with psilocybin mushrooms, ibogaine and mescaline (but not peyote) were recently decriminalized in Colorado but remain illegal at the federal level and in most states. However, ayahuasca isn't banned or tested for by the NFL.

Rodgers said that opening his mind to new forms of self-care around three years ago made him a better person and teammate, and part of that self-care approach occasionally includes psychedelics. After his first ayahuasca ceremony in Peru in 2020, Rodgers noted that he had one of the best seasons of his career and the Packers went to the NFC championship.

"2019: 26 touchdowns, four interceptions. Ayahuasca: 48 touchdowns, five interceptions, MVP," he said with a wry smile. His teammates were in on it, too: Last year, Packers wide receiver Allan Lizard initiated a mock ayahuasca drinking ceremony in the end zone as a touchdown celebration.

On topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccines to extraterrestrial life, Rodgers hasn't been scared to challenge conventional thinking. One of his former backups once recounted an instance of Rodgers telling him to "read up" on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. To learn about teammates, he'll "randomly find out guys' birthdays, birth cities and birth times" and then enter the information into an online astrology guide.

"Is it not ironic that the things that actually expand your mind are illegal and the things that keep you in lower chakras and dumb you down have been legal for centuries?" he asked Marcus and the crowd. "We need to change that."

Rodgers took a few jabs at the media before he and Marcus both endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. However, the majority of the conversation focused on how ayahuasca has helped Rodgers maintain an elite physical performance. While sports pundits are starting to question if he can keep up as he nears forty, Rodgers said most of his challenges have been in the mental arena.

After winning a Super Bowl in 2011, Rodgers began having more existential thoughts, he recalled. Trying to answer internal questions like "Why am I doing this?" and "What is this really all about?" while also fighting back against an inner critic took a toll on him mentally; since then, the longtime professional athlete said he has focused on self-love and connecting with teammates.

Rodgers ended the conversation with a potential window into his approach next season by paraphrasing the "man in the arena" quote from a Teddy Roosevelt book that is often used by public figures.

"There’s nothing sweeter than the satisfaction of knowing that you stood in the fire, and you stood up [and] rose one more time. You laid down in that, and you were able to rise one last time," he said. "It's not for everybody, but those who are able to dare greatly will reap the rewards. And the rewards are so beautiful."