Macleans Magazine hosted a special Q&A with none other than NHL legend Mark Messier. The six-time Stanley Cup winner went into depth about a “transformative” mushroom trip as a teenager that changed his life for the better.

“I had no idea the mind was that powerful,” Messier told Macleans Magazine. “It turned out to be an amazing experience, but more important was the question afterward: wow, how can I use my mind to empower myself to be a better player, to be a better person, to have more energy, to create a better aura?” Messier continued by saying that the trip inspired him to learn more about “Eastern philosophy, meditation, Buddhism, the spirituality of Indigenous peoples. The power of the mind.”

“I grew up Catholic but was interested in a lot of Eastern philosophy. So I think spirituality became more important to me than the so-called religion I grew up with,” he said. Interestingly, Messier began his legendary NHL career around the same time as his inspirational mushroom trip. So might there be a correlation between the two? That’s still unknown.

The Q&A with Macleans Magazine follows Messier’s announcement that he’d be publishing a memoir this week entitled “No One Wins Alone.” The 60-year-old NHL icon also dipped his feet in the cannabis industry, saying that after 26 years of playing professional hockey, he came across the many benefits of CBD and quickly added it to his daily wellness protocol.

Messier joined the California-based company NXT Water, makers of Akeso CBD water, back in February. He entered the company as an equity partner and brand captain, focussing on branding, advertising, marketing campaigns, social content, and more.

In a similar endeavor, Messier also partnered with the Alberta-based cannabis company Destiny Bioscience in 2019, which resulted in a disappointing outcome. He was on board as a goodwill ambassador, which would help the company form relationships with potential partners while using his celebrity power for good. 

After a year with the company, it was placed in receivership, and Messier proceeded to file a lawsuit after losing roughly $500,000. The lawsuit was put in place after the company’s CEO, Ed Moroz, promised Messier that we would not lose any money in this partnership, which is quite the polar opposite of what happened. “Destiny was not a sure thing. Quite the opposite. It was a worthless company propped up by nothing more than Moroz’s grandiose promises,” Messier said in the lawsuit.