A few days ago, Jason Kelce shocked the NFL world when he revealed his surety in having CTE. For those who don’t know, CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a degenerative disease affecting athletes or any individual who suffers from frequent concussions or head injuries. Since Jason’s admission, multiple NFL stars have come forth in solidarity and awareness. Aaron Rodgers is the latest name on the list.
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Speaking on the Tucker Carlson Show, Rodgers called CTE a byproduct of the dangerous sport that the NFL is. He acknowledged that minor brain injuries happen to NFL players almost every other game and thus it’s imperative to do body checkups constantly.
“The truth is that our sport is dangerous. The truth is that there are minor brain injuries that happen every single game… It’s a collision sport and I think it’s important that we really pay attention to how our bodies are responding.”
The onus also lies on the league to make things safer for the players and the veteran QB thinks the league is aware of that and working to make it safer. Luckily for the fans, the NFL’s work in improving safety rules, and helmet standards has been credible changes by the league impressing the Packers legend.
The league is in agreement with the players and has gotten better in every single collective bargaining agreement which I think I’ve been a part of three now where uh they’ve done a better job of taking care of older players… The equipment’s better, the helmets are better and the diagnosis is better.”
Aaron Rodgers, in particular, was impressed with the league’s actions because he has also seen and heard about the era when CTE prevention, concussions, and brain injuries were treated lightly by every stakeholder. Rodgers cited the example of Packers legend Brett Favre who used to never come off the field after collisions and used to brush aside concussions as seeing stars.
“But back in the day even when I was a young player, you get dinged in the head, they just let it clear. When you see stars, oh that’s fine, like Favre, he talked about all the concussions that he’s had. He would never come out, he was just like oh you got dang to seeing Stars.”
Having experienced the dark ages of the NFL regarding safety, Rodgers’ contentment in today’s safety consciousness is understandable. Speaking on the “dark ages,” one of the highlights in Rodgers’ conversation with Carlson was about his mysterious dark retreat story and the effect it had on him.
Aaron Rodgers Shares His Mind-Bending Darkness Retreat Experience
A couple of years ago, Aaron Rodgers made headlines when he was revealed as having stayed in a darkness retreat for five nights at the Sky Cave Retreats in Southern Oregon.
As the name suggests, a darkness retreat requires the guest to stay in a tiny dingy room, devoid of light with the only amenities being a bathtub, kitchen platform, and tiles. The purpose of the retreat is to cut off all distractions for the guests including light so that they can enter into a state of deep contemplation.
Rodgers described his room first to Carlson and then revealed that three days after his stay, he started hallucinating as his brain’s DMT started getting activated. He revealed,
“In a darkness retreat, well you’re just in a room about I don’t know, a third of this size, probably with a little bathroom back tub and uh can’t see sh*t. You can’t see anything, you start hallucinating like I did five nights, four days, you start hallucinating like on the third day because your brain starts the DMT, it starts getting activated.”
He also revealed that he stopped sleeping after night one because his eyes were not strained and tired. All he did during his stint was meditate silently for long hours and chill in the bathtub for some time. However, Rodgers did admit that the time at the retreat helped him massively.
The QB used his time at the retreat to focus on his relationships and family matters. Rodgers admitted that his time at the retreat was one of the catalysts in his decision to leave the Packers – a decision he was insecure about. Another insecurity he contemplated during his stay was retirement.
Having been privy to psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca for helping to alleviate his fear of death, the darkness retreat wasn’t as scary for him as one would imagine, said Rodgers. Despite that, he did experience a constant stream of negative thoughts that did scare him. Rodgers is truly the king of alternative therapies.
