The Power of Words - The Rice Experiment
I was inspired to conduct the rice experiment after learning about Dr Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist and author during a sound therapy and sound healing training.
Dr Emoto and his experiments
Dr Masaru Emoto was a famous Japanese scientist who observed and studied the physical effect of human words, thoughts, prayers and music on the molecular structure of water. He is the author of “The Hidden Messages in Water”. In his book, Dr. Emoto demonstrates how water exposed to love, positive words, gratitude, compassionate intention and prayers resulted in beautiful physical molecular patterns in the water. He also showed how water exposed to fear, disgust, hatred and angry words and intentions resulted in ugly and unpleasant physical patterns. He froze water from around the world and examined the frozen crystals via analysis technology and high-speed photographs. His research also showed us that clean and healthy water formed beautiful crystals, whilst polluted dirty water could barely form any kind of structure. When polluted and toxic water was exposed to prayer and intention it was altered and restored to beautifully formed geometric crystals found in clean, healthy water. Also, he demonstrated how certain types of sound, like classical music, generated beautiful patterns, while heavy metal music created rather ugly and distorted formations.
Below, each water crystal was exposed to the word, prayer or music it has written below it prior to being photographed:
If this is what thoughts, intentions, words and sounds can do to water, what can it do to the human body, which is made up of about 70% water? Also, our heart is made up of about 75-80% water, our brain is made up of about 80-85% water.
“Water has a memory and carries within it our thoughts and prayers. As you yourself are water, no matter where you are, your prayers will be carried to the rest of the world.”
Dr Emoto’s Rice Experiment
Dr Emoto also conducted a rice experiment where he prepared 3 jars with the same amount of rice. For 30 days, he spoke to two of the jars. The first one, he said “Thank you”. To the second jar, he said, “You idiot”. To the third jar, he said nothing - simply ignored it for 30 days. After 30 days, he found that the first rice jar that he offered thanks to fermented nicely and did not appear to mould. The second jar, which Dr Emoto said “You idiot” to everyday was covered in black mould. The third jar which he had ignored also had black mould in it too. Dr Emoto concluded that gratitude and loving words and intentions can have a profound impact on the most ordinary of substances. On the other hand, verbal abuse or indifference can create an unpleasant environment and cause mould.
The rice experiment has been reproduced several times all over the world, each time getting pretty similar results. I wanted to try it out myself.
My Rice Experiment
1 month. 3 jars of rice. 3 different intentions. What happens?
With the help of my partner’s 7yr old nephew, we set up the rice experiment to observe if and how our words, thoughts, intentions can physically manifest and change the physical nature of rice over a period of 30+ days.
1) We cooked some plain white rice.
2) Filled 3 jars with the same amount of cooked rice.
3) Discussed what we would say to the jars during our experiment:
To the Love jar: only positive, loving, kind words - “I love you”, “You angel”, “You are the best”, “You are loved”.
To the Hate jar: only negative, hurtful, mean words - “I hate you”, “You fool”, “You are the worst”, “You suck”, “Everybody hates you!”.
To the Ignore jar: no words.
4) We labelled the jars and wrote on paper the phrases above and placed it beside the respective jars.
5) They were all kept inside by a window that got a little bit of light.
5) We started the experiment on the 25th of August 2022, and every day for the next 30+ days, we spoke to the Love and Hate jars, saying only loving, positive words to the Love jar, and only negative, hurtful words to the Hate jar.
This is what we observed:
By day 7 - mould started to appear on the rice in the Hate jar; the rice in the Love jar started to go a yellow-ish colour, but mostly remained white; the rice in the Ignore jar was also a bit discoloured/yellowy but mostly unchanged.
Below photos: Day 7 Hate jar- mould appeared, Day 7 Ignore jar, Day 7 Love jar.
By day 21 - the mould on the rice in the Hate jar seemed to spread, the original patch of mould seemed to be darker and bit bigger, and we discovered a second patch of mould appearing and the rice had really discoloured - brown-ish colour; the rice in Love and Ignore jar seemed the same as above, no mould in either jars. Below photos:
1st row- Day 21 Ignore jar, Day 21 Love Jar, Day 21 Love Jar - rice at back still relatively white, Day 21 Hate jar - first mould patch,
2nd row - Day 21 Hate jar - second mould patch.
By day 32 - more of the rice in the Hate jar became darker, the two patches of mould didn’t appear to grow more though from what I could see; the Love jar had a yellowy tinge to it at the front but the rice at the back of the jar was white; the rice in the Ignore jar had only slight discolouration but looked more white than the Love jar.
Below photos are from Day 32:
After 32 days we were so amazed by the result. I have always believed that how we speak to ourselves and others is very important but the results of this experiment still blew my mind. It appeared that our words, intentions, thoughts towards the rice did have a profound impact over time, similar to the the result achieved by Dr Emoto and several others.
I have to say it did feel weird to say such mean, negative things to a jar of rice - it really didn’t feel nice to do. The Hate jar didn’t seem to go as mouldy as others I had seen on YouTube and online but I was still impressed that the Hate jar was the only one that became mouldy. I thought that the Ignore jar would also be similar to the Hate jar, that is, grow mould or go brown due to being ignored completely, but in our experiment, it seemed to do better than the Love jar. Perhaps like that saying goes, “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. People online seemed to find that the Ignore jar looked just as bad as the Hate jar actually.
Check out our Instagram reel showcasing the changes over the 30+ days here.
We have continued to observe the jars past 32 days, not speaking to them everyday but every now and again. Only the hate jar seems to have gotten worse - more brown in colour. I will keep you updated on this.
I would like to do this experiment again and place the jars in opposite positions on the windowsill. I am curious if the Hate jar perhaps received slightly more sun than the other jars. To really test the experiment, I wonder what would happen if we started to say negative, mean things to the Love jar and vice versa.
“The words we speak become the house we live in.”
This experiment has made me more mindful than ever of the way I speak to myself and others, especially to myself. This was just a simple experiment with rice but it really proved to me the power of our words and intentions. The words we speak, whether to ourselves or others, possess an energy, a power - positive or negative. So, we must make sure the “house we live in”, our mind is filled with words that are positive, inspiring, kind and magical. It is not just what we say but what we think too. It is important to focus on the good things in your life, people and things you are grateful for, all the little things, big things and everything in between. If you practise gratitude daily, you will surely notice a difference in your mindset. On the other hand, if you are constantly complaining, criticising, focusing on the negative things, it can really affect your day, your outlook on life, and the energy and mood of those around you.
l use affirmations myself, and in my classes to reinforce to children the importance of positive self-dialogue. What we think we become, so we must feed our minds with healthy thoughts, the same way we feed our bodies with healthy and nourishing food. The more we affirm, the more powerful it is, so we must repeat it to believe it!
A little ritual I do together with children is say:
I am kind (hands on our head)
I am loving (hands on our heart)
I am brave (hands on our belly)
Namaste.
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Please let me know if you try this Rice Experiment or if you have any questions :)