Aaron Rodgers reveals using Amazonian psychedelic drug ayahuasca led to his best NFL season

NFL star Aaron Rodgers has revealed that his past use of a South American psychedelic drug from the Amazon helped him have the ‘best season’ of his NFL career and also let him ‘unconditionally love myself.’

As the Green Bay Packers quarterback, 38, is set to enter the 2022 season as the two-time reigning NFL MVP, he admitted this week to consuming the drug on a trip to South America prior to winning the MVP award in 2020 and 2021.

Rodgers appeared on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast on Wednesday where he talked about ayahuasca — a psychoactive tea containing the hallucinogenic drug DMT — that he says helped improve his mental health. 

‘To me, one of the core tenets of your mental health is that self-love,’ Rodgers told host Aubrey Marcus. ‘That’s what ayahuasca did for me, was help me see how to unconditionally love myself.’

‘It’s only in that unconditional self-love, that then I’m able to truly be able to unconditionally love others. And what better way to work on my mental health than to have an experience like that?’

The drug ayahuasca has been used for thousands of years as a traditional healing method in Central and South America, mainly used by tribal societies in the Amazon basin.

Ayahuasca contains Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a controlled substance that is illegal to posses or distribute in the US or the UK, according to federal law.  

So ayahuasca seekers travel to countries such as Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Costa Rica for retreats that cost an average of $3,500 a week at places like Rythmia, an all-inclusive, luxury medically-licensed plant medicine center in Costa Rica. 

Rodgers, who said in June at Packers minicamp that he didn’t know yet whether he would play beyond this upcoming season, but when he does hang up his cleats, the reigning NFL MVP says he will ‘definitely’ step out as a member of the Green Bay Packers. 

The former Super Bowl champ told the podcast this week that he noticed a significant change in his relationship with the Packers since he took the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca – and believes the experience with the drug and winning the MVPs were connected.

‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence,’ Rodgers said. ‘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 said that ayahuasca impacted his life in more ways than he could have ever imagined.

‘I laid there afterward on my mat and then opened my eyes and it felt like I was opening my eyes for the first time,’ he recalled.

‘I really feel like that experience paved the way for me to have the best season of my career.’

‘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,’ the four-time NFL MVP continued.

‘They won’t care about what you say until they know how much you care.’

Rodgers posted a video to Instagram previewing the podcast interview and caught the attention of his rumored girlfriend, who praised the quarterback for ‘changing history and forging the future.’

Blu — who was first linked to Rodgers earlier this summer — replied, ‘Changing history and forging the future one courageous truth at a time. Legendary moves.’

Rodgers was briefly engaged to actress Shailene Woodley in 2021, but the pair split earlier this year. 

Prior to his relationship with Woodley, 30, Rodgers dated former NASCAR star Danica Patrick and actress Olivia Munn.

Rodgers decided to return to Green Bay after an eventful 2021 that included a contract dispute and holdout, a stint as Jeopardy’s guest host, a national controversy over his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and his brief engagement to Woodley. 

Rodgers has led the Packers to three straight NFC North titles but hasn’t reached the Super Bowl since Green Bay’s 2010 championship season. 

The Packers lost 13-10 to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional playoffs last season. 

Rodgers and the Packers have been inching towards a new deal since the 2021 offseason, when the quarterback and GM squared off in the media over a contract dispute.

In May of 2021, Rodgers accused the Packers of being disloyal, admitting that he was bothered by Green Bay’s decision to select quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. 

He also vented his frustration over the departures of several of his veteran teammates.

Rodgers stayed away from the team throughout the 2021 offseason, and even skipped mandatory minicamp. 

However, his deal was reworked in July and Rodgers attended the team’s August training camp.

The relationship between the Packers and Rodgers appeared to improve after the 2021 season as the latter was given more input into team decisions.

Rodgers became a controversial figure last season after butting heads with the NFL, and the scientific community, regarding COVID-19 safety.

When asked by reporters at August’s training camp if he’d received the COVID-19 injection, Rodgers described himself as ‘immunized,’ but neglected to explain that he hadn’t received a vaccine and was actually referring to a doctor-prescribed therapeutic treatment.

Rodgers’s vaccination status was revealed in early November when he tested positive for coronavirus and was subsequently required to quarantine for 10 days — the minimum amount of time an unvaccinated player is asked to quarantine, per league rules at the time (the NFL has since cut the quarantine time down to five days, per CDC guidance). 

After initially blaming the media and the ‘woke mob’ for the misunderstanding, Rodgers told McAfee’s SiriusXM show on November 9 that he wanted to apologize ‘to anybody who felt misled.’

He also said he combatted his COVID-19 infection with recommendations from podcaster and friend, Joe Rogan.

Specifically, Rodgers said he took monoclonal antibodies and Ivermectin — a drug used to work animals in its veterinary form that is unproven to treat COVID-19. The FDA has not approved the drug for use in preventing or treating coronavirus in humans and has warned patients against ingesting veterinary Ivermectin.

Rodgers’s popularity with fans clearly suffered as a result of the controversy.

Following the Packers’ season-ending loss to the 49ers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, Rodgers told SiriusXM’s Pat McAfee that many fans were rooting against him because of his refusal to get vaccinated.

‘There were a ton of people tuning in, rooting against us for one reason and one reason only,’ Rodgers told McAfee in January. ‘It’s because of my vaccination status and them wanting to see us lose so they could pile on.

And the fans certainly did pile on Rodgers.

‘The vaccine reduces the severity of COVID so much that Aaron Rodgers is unvaccinated and yet his receivers didn’t catch anything significant,’ joked comedian Steve Hofstetter after the Green Bay quarterback failed to throw a touchdown pass in the 13-10 defeat.

‘If there were a vaccine for choking in big games, would Aaron Rodgers get it?’ quipped author Greg Olear about the quarterback.