Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, has just returned from an obscurity retreat in Oregon where he planned to figure out whether to play or retire next season.
Appears on Aubrey Marcus’ podcastRodgers spoke for the first time about his two-day journey through the darkness.
“I spent a few days imagining what it would be like to retire and then imagining what it would be like to continue playing,” he said.
Last month, Rodgers checked into a sensory deprivation facility called Sky Cave Retreats for an extended stay in a room completely devoid of light. He had previously said he spent time in seclusion “to get a better sense of where I am in my life.”
When asked if the retreat into darkness shed any light on his decision, Rodgers said he still wasn’t sure, but he would soon.
“I really wanted to think about some things with some of the relationships in my life, some family things, and then of course career things, just let what would come in, let it come in. And it did. It certainly did,” said Rodgers.
He said he expected that some people would not be satisfied with his answer.
“If you don’t like it and you think it’s drama, you think I’m a diva or whatever, just tune it out,” he said of this big decision. “That’s fine. But this is my life. It’s important to me, and I’ll make a decision soon enough, and we’ll go down that path and be very excited about it.”
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More details about the retreat
Before entering the retreat, Rodgers told “The Pat McAfee Show” that he went on the retreat in darkness for four days. But according to reports by ESPNhe shortened his stay by two days.
Scott Berman, owner of Sky Caves, said Rodgers stayed in a 30-square-foot room that’s partially underground and pitch black. His accommodation included a queen size bed, a bathroom and a meditation mat.
Rodgers admitted to Marcus that it was difficult to maneuver in the dark.
“The worst thing was I was disoriented, coming out of one of those kind of meditations where you think the bed is here. And so I ran into things several times because I thought, ‘I’m good,’ and scared — I ran into the wall, or dang, there’s the bathtub.”
But in the end he found the darkness valuable.
“All the answers are within me, and I’ve touched many of them – and certainly the feelings – on both sides during the darkness. I’m thankful for that time,” he said.
