Hallucinogens, darkness retreats, and never consuming gluten or coffee: All the quirky ways Aaron Rodgers keeps his 39-year-old body and mind in shape

Aaron Rodgers is a meditation and yoga enthusiast, and it goes beyond just practicing at home. In a recent interview, he revealed he has been on "many" retreats for both.

"I've done many meditation retreats, yoga retreats, things that have stimulated my mind and helped me get in a better headspace and have a greater peace in my life," Rodgers told "The Pat McAfee Show."

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman has discovered the benefits of meditation in retirement. He told Insider that he wishes he had used it during his playing career, saying he would have led his team differently and been less reactionary.

He cited Rodgers as an example of how the practice makes for better leaders and referenced one game that he was calling as a broadcaster.

"The TV cut to a shot of Aaron, and he just looked totally calm, like he was working through some breathing at the moment in the game," Aikman told Insider. "I asked him about it, and he says he has breathing techniques before he takes the field, he has breathing techniques throughout the course of the game."

Rodgers told Dan LeBatard that he was "50-50" on retiring on the eve of the 2021 season before he spent some time meditating.

"I spent a couple days in silence and meditation and contemplation and really felt like I should come back," Rodgers told LeBatard.

In 2020, after breaking up with Danica Patrick, Rodgers admitted that he was having more fun playing football because mindfulness was putting him in a better place.

"I have a new and increased love of life, and I've made decisions and changes and habits that put me in a lot better headspace," Rodgers told Pat McAfee.

After the 2021 season, Rodgers said he did a 12-day Panchakarma cleanse, in which he used the time to reflect and to cleanse the mind and body.

The cleanse includes a strict diet of drinking warm ghee (clarified butter) in the morning, using herbal laxatives at night, and abstaining from cold food or beverages, sugar, dairy, drugs, caffeine, and alcohol. Diet during the cleanse is typically rice, mung beans, and vegetables known as kichari, cooked with more ghee and seasonings like ginger, turmeric, and coriander. The person also avoids vigorous activities, including sex.

According to the Ayurvedic Institute, there may also be "therapeutic vomiting," enemas, and bloodletting.

Rodgers said at the time that he felt a sense of gratitude afterward, and it helped relieve his stress.

Despite nearly choosing retirement at least once, Aaron Rodgers has said he hopes to play into his 40s like Tom Brady, who recently retired at age 45. Rodgers is under contract until he is 43 and uses some of Brady's diet techniques to keep going.

In 2018, Brady sent Rodgers a copy of his book, "The TB12 Method," for advice on improving his diet. While Rodgers said he isn't as strict as Brady — he didn't cut out nightshades — he does follow some of the techniques.

Rodgers stopped consuming dairy and gluten, saying it helped his joints, skin, and body and that he no longer felt bloated all the time or "slow and foggy." He also improved his sleep and energy by cutting out coffee and replacing it with an occasional green tea.

Before his 2021 MVP season, Rodgers used the psychedelic drug ayahuasca. During an interview after the season, he said the drug helped him love himself and his teammates unconditionally.

"It's only in that unconditional self-love that then I'm able to truly be able to unconditionally love others. And what better way to work on my mental health than to have an experience like that?" Rodgers said. "I really feel like that experience paved the way for me to have the best season of my career."

Ayahuasca is an ancient hallucinogenic brew and has shown some promise for treating mental illnesses. Most people who consume it vomit shortly after and experience vivid hallucinations.

Rodgers said the fear of Y2K and what would happen in the year 2000 when he was a teenager ingrained a fear of death in him and the worry of never living the life he hoped for.

"I definitely had a fear of death, and ayahuasca and psilocybin actually really helped me with that and [alleviated] a lot of the stress around the idea of needing to accomplish things before I actually die, and taking away some of that fear," Rodgers told Pat McAfee. "I think when you've seen the other side it makes the idea of death more of a passage and less of an ending. More of kind of the next chapter of life."

Rodgers recently completed four days in a darkness retreat, saying he wanted to get "a better sense of where I'm at in my life." He also noted that there were aspects of the retreat that everybody should embrace.

"I think we all could use a dose of turning our phone off once in a while, unplugging from society," Rodgers told McAfee. "Some people don't want to do a few days and nights in darkness. That's fine ... I've done many meditation retreats, yoga retreats, things that have stimulated my mind and helped me get in a better headspace and have a greater peace in my life."