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 could be wish to retire after which imagining what it could be wish to proceed to play,” he mentioned.
Final month, Rodgers checked right into a sensory deprivation facility referred to as Sky Cave Retreats for a protracted 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 choice, 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 type of let no matter was gonna are available, are available. And it did. It positively did,” Rodgers mentioned.
He mentioned he anticipated some folks wouldn’t be happy 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 large choice. “That is fantastic. However that is my life. It is necessary to me, and I am going to decide quickly sufficient, and we’ll go down that street and be actually enthusiastic about it.”
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Extra particulars on the retreat
Earlier than getting into the retreat, Rodgers informed “The Pat McAfee Present” that he was occurring the darkness retreat for 4 days. However based on 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 nighttime.
“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 occasions as a result of I feel, ‘I am good,’ and bang — I bumped into the wall, or dang, there’s the bath.”
However finally, he discovered the darkness precious.
“All of the solutions are proper inside me, and I touched a lot of them — and positively the emotions — on either side in the course of the darkness. I am grateful for that point,” he mentioned.