Jonathan Toews Opens Up About His Healing Trip to India and Whether He’ll Ever Play Hockey Again

It wasn’t just a biological thing. It wasn’t just what are you eating, what are you putting in your body, what’s going on underneath the surface. It was a big learning experience, as far as emotions and energy and perspective. My attitude, my perspective towards everything in my life, and even the game of hockey, all that was kind of going through a shift. There were a lot of deeper, kind of intuitive aspects to it, too. My body just kind of eventually gave up on me.

When were you first introduced to Ayurveda?

It wasn’t until last summer, 2023, that I started working with an Ayurvedic practitioner. After everything that I’d done, this guy told me to change my diet in a certain way. He put me on certain foods, a few things that I’d never really tried before, and I started taking these herbal tinctures to help with inflammation and digestion. That was one of the major shifts where it was like, “Okay, there’s something here that we haven’t really touched on and it’s really moving the needle.” He made the suggestion like, “Hey, I’ve had a few clients that have gone to this Ayurvedic retreat in India, in the province of Kerala, which is basically the home of Ayurvedic medicine. You should go out there and you should do this Panchakarma detox.” When he first mentioned it, I just kind of laughed at him. I was like, “Okay, man. I don’t need to do that.” Part of my ego was just like, ”I’m not going to India. That’s ridiculous. I don’t need to do that. We’ll figure this thing out.”

Then, in a weird way, one thing led to another and I decided I wasn’t going to play hockey last season. I didn’t explore trying to sign another contract with anybody, because I knew deep down I needed some time away from the game. I wanted to give my body the time and space to truly heal and figure this stuff out. I had all this time and space before one of my really good friends was getting married in Italy in October. I’m like, “I have this whole month. What do I do with this time?” In a weird way, the whole Ayurvedic thing kept popping up. Random people would start talking abut Panchakarma this and Ayurveda that. I started really giving it some thought like, “Well, maybe I should give this thing a try.” I didn’t even really research it at all, didn’t look at other possible clinics or places that offered the same treatments. I was just like, “You know what? This guy suggested this thing. He had clients that said it was a really, really good thing and a very reputable place, let’s just go with it and give it a shot.” So I decided to do that, and I went out there last September of 2023, and it was the most life-changing thing I’ve ever experienced and I literally got stronger every month since then.

How does that bring us to your most recent experience?

So, come this past summer, I had in my mind: One more kick at the can. Let’s try this thing one more time, see where it takes us, and we should be in a good place. Sure enough, I’m really happy that I did, because this time was more than a month. I did five weeks and I expected it to be a little bit easier—because I was just in a better place and I was stronger and more resilient going into it this time—but it kicked my ass even harder. It was very intense. It was an emotional rollercoaster, a physical rollercoaster, it was all the things. But again, just an equally incredible experience. The quote I keep using is, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” My mom has been saying that since I was a kid. But it’s never been more true for me.