After spending several days off the grid in complete darkness and solitude, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made his long-awaited return to the civilized world last week.
During a Feb. 14 appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the NFL star announced he was planning to spend four days and four nights at a “darkness retreat” to “have a better sense of where [he’s] at in [his] life.” Throughout his stay at Sky Cave Retreats, a facility located on forested land in southern Oregon, Rodgers would remain isolated in a partially underground, dark room by himself.
“I think we could all use a dose of turning our phones off once in a while and unplugging from society. Some people don’t want to do a few days and nights of darkness, and that’s fine,” Rodgers said. “But to out and out judge it like you have any understanding of it, that’s not exactly a way to come together as a society and connect better as a people.”
The move isn’t unusual for Rodgers, who has previously spent his offseason engaging in fairly abnormal self-reflective activities. In 2020, for example, the Green Bay quarterback embarked on a journey to Peru to try ayahuasca, a “plant-based psychoactive traditionally used in indigenous ceremonies.” Rodgers has since claimed the psychedelic drug taught him how to “unconditionally love” himself and helped pave “the way for [him] to have the best season of [his] career.”
The primary reason Rodgers’ 2023 sabbatical has garnered so much attention, however,
