Aaron Rodgers’ four-day darkness retreat revealed: Packers QB re-emerges from solitude in Oregon


Aaron Rodgers has reportedly emerged from his four-day darkness retreat in the southern Oregon wilderness, but the impact of his recent solitude remains unclear.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback has not addressed the media since entering the 300-square foot, semi-underground cabin, where he was expected meditate and self-reflect without modern comforts, such as television, phones, or illumination.

He did have a queen-sized bed, yoga mat, and a bathroom, but even with those amenities, Rodgers was expecting a primal sanctuary, where he could contemplate his life and future without the distractions of the outside world. As he recently explained on Pat McAfee’s YouTube show, everyone could ‘use a dose of turning our phones off once in a while and unplugging from society.’

Whenever he does plug back in, Rodgers will find that much of society has been curious about his retreat: What’s it like? How does it feel? And what will its impact be on his football career?

It may seem like a leap to link his NFL future to a four-day excursion, but Rodgers previously credited a pair of off-season ayahuasca retreats for his MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021, saying the psychedelic tea he drank in Peru paved the way for his on-field success.

Aaron Rodgers has reportedly emerged from his four-day darkness retreat in the southern Oregon wilderness, but the impact of his recent solitude remains unclear

The Green Bay Packers quarterback has not addressed the media since entering the 300-square foot, semi-underground cabin, where he was expected meditate and self-reflect without modern comforts, such as television, phones, or illumination

The Green Bay Packers quarterback has not addressed the media since entering the 300-square foot, semi-underground cabin, where he was expected meditate and self-reflect without modern comforts, such as television, phones, or illumination

The 39-year-old is still under contract with the Packers, who will owe Rodgers $59.5 million if he plays for Green Bay in 2023. However, there remains speculation he could force a trade or retire after a disappointing 8-9 season in 2022.

And although the retreat was planned months in advance, long before the bitter ending to the 2022 campaign, Rodgers recently told McAfee that he hopes to ‘have a better sense of where I’m at in my life’ upon returning.

‘This is the thing that works for me,’ Rodgers said. ‘I’ve done many similar things to this — I haven’t done this specific darkness retreat, but I’ve done many meditation retreats and yoga retreats, things that have stimulated my mind and helped me get in a better headspace and have a greater peace in my life.’

So how does this experience differ from yoga, meditation, and ayahuasca retreats?

For starters, this is mostly self-guided.

Whereas an instructor might be present for a yoga retreat and shamans administer and observe the use of ayahuasca, a darkness retreat is based on solitude.

And while yoga can make on physically uncomfortable, the darkness retreat is aimed at making individuals confront unpleasant thoughts.

‘We kind of hold discomfort as a negative thing and not to say that it’s positive, but there’s such a hard structure that discomfort is bad,’ Sky Cave Retreats owner Scott Berman, Rodgers’ recent host, told ESPN.

‘The moment somebody feels uncomfortable, they get on their phone, they go for a walk, they eat food, or they do wholesome activities, they do yoga, they go for a run. There are a million things that people do to avoid discomfort.

‘If somebody’s sad in our culture, it’s like, ”Let’s fix you immediately,’ he continued. ‘There’s not a real genuine exploration of, ”Why are you sad?’ What happens if you just include the sadness and rest with the sadness, and be with it, without trying to change it? What happens from there? That is a unique aspect of darkness retreat.’

Located about 30 minutes from Ashland, Oregon, Sky Cave currently has only three dark rooms, all of which are booked for the next 18 months, Berman told ESPN. There are seven more rooms planned in an effort to trim the lengthy waiting list, said to be in the hundreds.

After an hour-long orientation, guests review a meal plan before exploring their new spaces and unwinding.

The hosts provide a meal before sundown and take care of any last-minute requests, but are otherwise scarce, arriving only once a day to take care of material needs, like food or wood for the stove.

The cabins are all equipped with a flushing toilet, bath, and sink for retreats, which can last anywhere from three to 40 days.

‘Typically, most retreatants find that they sleep, more or less, for the first 24-48 hours,’ reads the Sky Cave website. ‘As the days continue to unfold, they tend to find that they need less and less sleep. Many eventually find that they either do not need to sleep at all or are only sleeping for 1-2 hours a night.’

But it’s after the first one or two days that the biggest impact can be felt.

‘Heightened sensitivity and the opening of the subconscious can naturally begin to arise as early as the 3rd day of the retreat and continue to intensify as the retreat progresses,’ the website continues.

‘This is due to different neurochemical reactions that occur from various glands and hormones being both suppressed and/or stimulated from the light deprivation and the simple nature of the dark and solitude.’

Prices are not listed on the Sky Cave website, but one vacation website has a seven-day trip listed for $1,350. (Sky Cave spokespeople did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for prices)

Berman typically helps his guests brainstorm by offering short, through-provoking prompts during his daily visit.

‘I am able to have a little window into what’s going on,’ Berman said. ‘And sometimes it might be a 10-second conversation and sometimes it might be 20 minutes.

‘It just kind of depends on what feels appropriate and what that person wants.’

Rodgers is not the first athlete to do a retreat with Sky Cave.

Endurance athlete Colin O’Brady spoke about his eight-day, seven-night retreat with ESPN, saying he found Berman’s prompts to be helpful.

‘He’s just wise,’ O’Brady said. ‘It’s a couple of little thought starters, and then he just leaves. … I thought that his very, very subtle guidance throughout was a really beautiful by-product.’

O’Brady, who has climbed Mount Everest and crossed Antarctica, said the experience is particularly helpful for athletes.

‘I’m always looking for ways to tap into the power of my mind,’ he said. ‘And I thought the exercise of being alone in the dark would really be advantageous in a number of ways, emotionally, spiritually.’

Personal trainer Hannah Eden told ESPN that her time at Sky Cave was ‘the most beautiful experience I think I’ve ever, ever had.’

Eden said she learned about forgiveness, and has even booked another retreat for later in 2023.

O’Brady, who said he learned about personal fulfilment, said he wrote in his journal: ‘I wish I could stay; I’ve touched the calmest places of my soul in the dark.’

The benefits of a darkness retreat cannot be found in scientific studies, but the practice has existed for thousands of years through several cultures: Ancient India, China, Tibet, Greece and Egypt, for instance.

But in Wisconsin, its efficacy will be determined largely by Rodgers’ immediate future, and whether or not he returns to the Packers for the 2023 season.



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