Inside Aaron Rodgers’ bizarre healing methods – from ayahuasca to four day ‘dark retreats’ and dolphin sex noises
Aaron Rodgers has defied medical science, and not for the first time, with his improbable return for the New York Jets.
The 39-year-old's season looked done when, four snaps into the season opener against the Buffalo Bills, he ruptured his left Achilles tendon.
The four-time NFL MVP underwent surgery on September 14 but, in an unprecedented rehabilitation effort, returned to Jets practice this week less than three months after his initial injury.
There have been multiple reports of a potential mid-December return for Rodgers, while some suggest the Christmas Eve matchup with the Commanders is more likely.
In either instance, he would become the first player to suffer an Achilles tear and return to play that same season.
That would be some achievement for Rodgers, who is often viewed as a polarising figure by many due to his COVID-19 vaccination stance and perceived conspiratorial nature (he recently described a UFO encounter on the final episode of 'Hard Knocks').
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The Super Bowl XLV MVP is also famous for employing esoteric and often unconventional methods to his health and well-being over the years.
When mulling over his decision to either stay with the Green Bay Packers or join a new team this offseason, Rodgers revealed he went on a four-day-and-night "darkness retreat" to help him find some mental clarity.
“It’s four nights of complete darkness,” Rodgers told 'The Pat McAfee' show in February.
“It’s a darkness retreat. I’ve had a number of friends who have done it and have had some profound experiences. It’s something that’s been on my radar for a few years now and I felt like it’d be awesome to do regardless of where I was leaning after this season so it’s been on the calendar for months and months.”
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He also said that the experience was centered around “sensory deprivation isolation” and that he could end up having hallucinations.
Not that it would be the first time Rodgers experienced illusions and figments of the imagination.
In August 2022, the QB claimed on 'The Aubrey Marcus Podcast' that doing ayahuasca - a South American plant-based psychedelic drug usually brewed into a tea - helped him win two back-to-back MVP awards in 2020 and 2021.
"I don't think it's a coincidence. I really don't. I don't really believe in coincidences at this point,” he said.
“It's the universe bringing things to happen when they're supposed to happen and 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, you know, pounding us in the head saying, 'Hey dummy, this is what you're supposed to be doing.'"
Rodgers is certainly no stranger to lengthy retreats and getting off the grid in order to mentally and physically re-calibrate.
Last year he shared details of a 12-day cleansing and healing method called Panchakarma which he had recently undertook.
“I just came out of a 12-day cleanse where you're eating a specific diet and you're going through these treatments everyday,” Rodgers said at the time.
“You're not really doing anything else. You've gotta kind of turn everything else off. You're not working out, you're not straining or anything. It's kind of a re-centering, it not only heals you physically but I think it takes away mental stress. And then the spiritual part, I think it allows you to kind of enjoy the meditations a little bit more.”
Rodgers said he came away from the Panchakarma process, which is associated with Ayurveda, an ancient medicine system rooted in India, full of gratitude for those closest to him and who had helped him on his journey.
The 10x Pro Bowler has never been one to shy away from trying alternative medicines, diets, and living habits.
Even recently, as he's been recovering from Achilles surgery, the Jets quarterback revealed the "healing" nature of the dolphin sex noises from the ocean near his Malibu home had been helping him.
“There’s ideas that some of the noises from the dolphins when they’re love-making, the frequency of that is actually healing to the body,” Rodgers said.
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Rodgers is one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time, and his rapid recovery from the Achilles surgery, at nearly 40, is nothing short of astounding.
While his unique methods may seem bizarre to most people on the outside, it's hard to argue with the results.