“The Trap Lord” is religious about meditation.
For rapper Ferg — formerly known as A$AP Ferg — sitting in silence every day has become an integral part of his health routine.
When the pressure to come up with new music or run his various business ventures gets to him, the practice helps him find calm in his fast-paced life.
“I do 15 minutes every morning,” the 38-year-old told The Post. “It just clears the slate from yesterday until today. Whatever happened yesterday, I inhale and breathe it away.”
“We could reminisce about what happened yesterday, but we’re not merging the days and we want to be excited about today,” he added.
The Harlem native has been practicing for nearly a decade, with no apps, just sitting still and allowing himself to be present in the moment, in addition to not reaching for his phone first thing in the morning.
Regular meditation isn’t just a trend or health kick for Ferg, whose real name is Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr. — it’s part of a growing wellness lifestyle he’s embracing.
For one, the A$AP Mob member’s been hosting community “weed-friendly” 5K runs in Harlem alongside Wiz Khalifa and Diplo.
You can also spot the chart-topping singer up front at “Flo Fridays with Ferg,” a weekly cycle class at AARMY in Noho.
The high-intensity spin class even inspired him to create his own version of an ’80s workout anthem called “Cycle” that’s all about his love for showing up and strapping into the stationary bike.
Getting into a health groove
While he’s regularly riding and sweating it out with the mob at the studio now, Ferg wasn’t always in the front row, having only started attending classes going a few months ago.
“It looked so crazy, so turned up,” he said of spin class choreography. “I was like, ‘Man, there’s no way.’”
But he continued on his health journey, he used the regular class-goers as motivation for a goal of his own.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to become those guys that’s in there working out,’” he said. “So I just started coming and I made a pact with myself to come every day, take off Sundays and really get used to putting my body through it.”
When he first started getting into fitness, he’d head to the park with friends and use the equipment to do thinks like pull-ups and push-ups.
Now, in addition to the bike and runs, Ferg’s been getting back into lifting, hitting up AARMY’s bootcamp-style strength class, as well as a bit of boxing.
“I try to keep a wide array just so my body is constantly being tested,” he explained.
This variety also comes into play with nutrition, and while he mostly follows a plant-based diet, he says he doesn’t deprive his body “when it calls for steak or fish.”
Back to basics
There’s an incredibly personal reason for his renewed focus on health.
When Ferg was 17, his father passed away from kidney failure, sending the singer down a rabbit hole of research, admitting he didn’t fully understand the sometimes complex nature of health.
“I understood as I grew up, it’s the food we eat and not moving our bodies and not drinking enough water,” he said, adding that seeing friends pass away from health-related issues continued to persuade him to put health first.
His routine all comes back to protecting his mental health.
While he’ll get an occasional massage or contrast therapy to calm his nerves, he eschews most trendy biohacking tools or longevity tricks and comes back to the basics.
“I make sure that I’m breathing,” Ferg said. “If the world gets overwhelming, I go into nature and just look at trees and stars.”
He’s a proud advocate for therapy, previously discussing feeling burned out while touring.
And he cites keeping a clear head as the motivation for him to keep showing up to spin class or to go for a run.
“Just by making yourself feel good, you can inspire so many others and make the world a better place to live in,” Ferg said.
“Whether it’s the clearness of your thoughts… whether it’s being physically fit to be able to lift yourself up and do things that you’ve never done before, whether it’s moving your body to dance and play and have fun, I think it all lends itself to the world,” he added.
