Over the last year, Aaron Rodgers has openly discussed his use of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca, an off-the-field activity that he’s become more and more known for doing in the later stages of his NFL career.
His teammates even had an end zone celebration that recognized it.
The Packers quarterback, who recently announced his intentions to play for the New York Jets next season, takes part in his ayahuasca rituals in Peru with a shaman who leads ceremonies.
Who Rodgers does these ceremonies with often has been a mystery, though he often gives out invitations to his friends on podcasts and joked he wanted to do it with Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
Now we may have an answer about who has joined him. Social media personality and YouTuber-turned-pro boxer Jake Paul says he’s been one of them.
“Aaron and I were actually together when we did the ayahuasca,” the 26-year-old recently told Fox News Digital. “He’s more publicly known for speaking about it, but I was actually there with him when we did it.
Paul, who recently signed a mixed martial arts contract with the Professional Fighters League, said he and Rodgers spent the week together “doing it.”
“Definitely share that similarity in terms of spirituality and reflecting and going into the deepest parts of the mind,” Paul said. “Definitely have been doing some of that.”
Rodgers, 39, has credited using ayahuasca, a plant-based drink that can cause hallucinations, for his resurgence ahead of his 2020 and 2021 MVP seasons in getting himself in a better mindset.
He has been a strong advocate for ayahuasca during his many podcast appearances over the last year, especially when going on “The Pat McAfee Show.” Rodgers even claimed because ayahuasca is made from a plant that it’s not a drug. The active chemical in ayahuasca is DMT, which is a hallucinogenic tryptamine drug that occurs naturally in various plants.
Rodgers also said using ayahuasca has helped him overcome his fear of death and that taking “the medicine” has helped him see more clearly in his life.
Rodgers, whose days in Green Bay appear to be numbered as a trade with the New York Jets appears to be pending, also is having an effect on Paul in another way.
Paul, whose older brother Logan will appear at WWE’s WrestleMania April 1-2, also told Fox News Digital that he intends to take a darkness retreat.
“It’s funny, I was planning on doing the darkness retreat later this year,” Paul told Fox News Digital.
Rodgers, of course, went on a four-day darkness retreat last month in the wilderness in Oregon to help him in part gain clarity about whether he still wanted to play football. He also said he was going on the retreat to self-reflect in isolation.
He said in an interview with McAfee that he entered the darkness retreat 90% leaning toward retirement.
But when he came out he realized the Packers intended to move on to Jordan Love at quarterback and that he still had a desire to extend his NFL career.