Packers’ Aaron Rodgers Explains Why He Used Ayahuasca Psychedelic

AP Photo/Morry Gash

In an interview with Peter King of NBC Sports, Aaron Rodgers said the use of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca helped “[unlock] a lot of my heart.”

The Green Bay Packers QB first discussed using the drug on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, saying it helped him win his back-to-back MVP awards over the past two years. He explained to King how the situation unfolded:

“I have a dear friend that I’ve known for 25 years that went on an ayahuasca journey in 2019. He came back, and we played golf one day and he told me all about it. I said, OK, I think it’s time that I do it. So we put together a trip to Peru [in 2020] and had a great experience. Then I went again this offseason and had another beautiful experience. Different, very different. Different size group, different amount of days.”

The use of ayahuasca is illegal in the United States, but Rodgers saw significant value during his three-day trip in South America:

“I came in with an intention of doing a lot of healing of other relationships and bringing in certain people to have conversations with. Most of the work was around myself and figuring out what unconditional love of myself looks like of myself. In doing that, allowing me to understand how to unconditionally love other people but first realizing it’s gotta start with myself. I’ve got to be a little more gentle with myself and compassionate and forgiving because I’ve had some negative voices, negative self-talk, for a long time. A lot of healing went on. There’s things—images from the nights, the journeys—that will come up in dreams or during the day I’ll think about something that happened or something that I thought about. It’s constantly trying to integrate those lessons into everyday life.”

In 2020, Rodgers set a career high with 48 passing touchdowns to go with just five interceptions, leading the NFL with a 121.5 quarterback rating. A year later, he led the league in passer rating again at 111.9 to go along with 37 touchdowns and four picks.

It helped him win the third and fourth MVP awards of his career.

The next challenge for Rodgers will be winning his second Super Bowl title after several disappointing playoff exits in recent seasons.