Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the NFL’s Inexperienced Bay Packers, simply returned from a darkness retreat in Oregon, the place he deliberate to determine whether or not he would play subsequent season or retire.
Showing on Aubrey Marcus’s podcast, Rodgers spoke for the primary time about his journey into darkness for 2 days.
“I spent elements of a few days imagining what it might be wish to retire after which imagining what it might be wish to proceed to play,” he mentioned.
Final month, Rodgers checked right into a sensory deprivation facility known as Sky Cave Retreats for a chronic keep in a room fully devoid of sunshine. He had beforehand mentioned that he was spending the time in isolation “have a greater sense of the place I am at in my life.”
When requested if the darkness retreat shed any mild on his determination, Rodgers mentioned he nonetheless wasn’t positive however would know quickly.
“I actually needed to ponder some issues with some relationships in my life, some household stuff, after which clearly profession stuff, simply sort of let no matter was gonna are available, are available. And it did. It undoubtedly did,” Rodgers mentioned.
He mentioned he anticipated some folks wouldn’t be glad along with his reply.
“When you do not prefer it and also you assume it is drama, you assume I am being a diva or no matter, then simply tune it out,” he mentioned about this huge determination. “That is high quality. However that is my life. It is essential to me, and I will decide quickly sufficient, and we’ll go down that highway and be actually enthusiastic about it.”
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Extra particulars on the retreat
Earlier than coming into the retreat, Rodgers instructed “The Pat McAfee Present” that he was occurring the darkness retreat for 4 days. However in response to reporting by ESPN, he minimize his keep quick by two days.
Scott Berman, who owns Sky Caves, mentioned that Rodgers stayed in a 300-square-foot room that’s partially underground construction and pitch black. His lodging included a queen mattress, a toilet, and a meditation mat.
Rodgers admitted to Marcus that it was tough to maneuver at the hours of darkness.
“The worst half was being disoriented, popping out of a type of like meditations the place you assume the mattress’s over right here. And that is how I bumped into issues a number of instances as a result of I believe, ‘I am good,’ and bang — I bumped into the wall, or dang, there’s the bath.”
However in the end, he discovered the darkness useful.
“All of the solutions are proper inside me, and I touched lots of them — and undoubtedly the emotions — on either side through the darkness. I am grateful for that point,” he mentioned.
