Spirituality

Aaron Rodgers says he is open to using ayahuasca again after past ceremonies

Aaron Rodgers said on the Not Just Football podcast that he would not rule out taking ayahuasca again, describing the psychedelic brew as something that helped his own healing even though he has no current plans to use it, Steelers Now reports.

The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback made the comments after teammate Cam Heyward brought up footage from Rodgers' Netflix docuseries Enigma showing him playing bongos during a spiritual retreat in Costa Rica, according to Steelers Now.

Published

What Rodgers told Heyward about the ceremonies#

Rodgers said the retreat footage came from after his final ayahuasca ceremony, when sessions start at nine at night and run until sunrise, and he described himself as "on the come down" rather than, in Heyward's words, "fried out of his mind," per Steelers Now.

"I think it can really help people. I don't recommend it because it's not easy at all," Rodgers told Heyward, adding that he has no plans to take it again but would not close the door on it, Steelers Now reports.

Asked by Heyward's wife what he realized after taking ayahuasca, Rodgers said it mattered for "healing, self-healing, and healing some of the relationships around me," and that it fed his sense there is more going on in the world than what is visible, according to Steelers Now.

He also said he has brought other people along on the experience over the years, with some "blocked" and having little happen and others reporting more dramatic effects, Steelers Now reports. He separately dismissed a February 2023 darkness retreat as "overrated" and said he would never do that one again.

The plant brew's roots and a retreat industry under scrutiny#

Ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine combined with a DMT-containing plant, used for generations by Indigenous communities in the Amazon and Orinoco basins in traditional medicine and shamanism, according to Wikipedia. Its Quechuan name translates to "spirit rope" or "liana of the soul."

Costa Rica has become the world's second most popular destination for psychedelic retreat tourism after Peru, the Tico Times reports, estimating around 80 centers operating there, about 60 of them offering ayahuasca, with the largest clustered near Puntarenas and Tamarindo charging roughly $5,000 a person per session.

That industry has faced scrutiny following the 2024 death of Lauren Levis, a 40-year-old social worker from New Mexico who died after taking ibogaine, a different psychedelic substance illegal under Costa Rican law, during a retreat at Soul Centro on the Nicoya Peninsula, the Tico Times reports.

Rodgers discussed his political views on the same podcast on September 10, telling Heyward and cohost Hayden Walsh that he distrusts both major political parties, according to Us Weekly reports. Spotrac figures cited by the Times of India put his career football earnings at $394 million.

Discover more