UFC color commentator Joe Rogan is no stranger to weird or out of the ordinary experiences. Rogan is famous for talking about his drugs-related “awakenings” or psychedelic methods that he uses for relaxations on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
This is why it’s with no surprise that his latest Instagram post tells the story of a particularly mind-expanding experience that he recently had.
“I usually start off my sauna sessions listening to an audiobook, and tonight I’m re-listening to ‘Empire Of The Summer Moon’ S.C. Gwynne’s epic tale of the Comanche Indians in the South West.” Rogan wrote on Instagram. He then went on to explain in detail what his experience felt like.
“I do a breathing exercise where I breathe in deeply for 6 seconds, and then exhale for 6. I got into my rhythm, and I started to get overwhelmed thinking about these insane depictions of struggle and tragedy, all of it taking place from around 180 years ago to the late 1900s. The stories of the raids, and the battles, and the massacres were both horrific and fascinating. I kept thinking. ‘this was not that long ago.’
“Eventually I took the AirPods out and just got lost in the breathing. The images from the stories lit up my imagination, and the sound of my own breath began to hypnotize me.”
“The sensation became really intense, and it felt as if a layer of whatever it is that keeps me from understanding myself and the world around me was peeled away, two words echoed in my head: ‘love and understanding.’ For the last 10 to 15 minutes these words and the ideas that came with them danced in my head to the sounds of inhaling and exhaling, transforming my thinking like a beautiful mind virus. When it was over I felt this overwhelming desire to just hug people and be nice to people.”
