They're into happy thoughts and good vibes. No, not those 1960s hippies, but a staple of the kitchen pantry: the humble carrot. It seems the vegetable responds beautifully to meditation.
Using a blender to eviscerate the poor dears will never seem the same again. Oh the guilt! Crunch!
These feelings of shame occurred after I learnt that Professor John Ndiritu recently directed his positive thoughts while meditating towards a bed of carrots.
In the name of science Ndiritu, an associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, provided meditative, metaphysical energy to the carrot seedlings, which were part of a research project by third-year students Lwandisile Nyembezi, Jerry Hlongwane and Thierry Baranzika.
"The effects were quite astounding," says Ndiritu. "We meditated on the plants as well as the water used to irrigate them. The average rate of growth was 11% greater with the 'treated' plants. It was not based on randomness, we followed scientific methods on 400 plants. The nutritional content was anywhere from 8% to 30% higher, and one was 80% higher," says Ndiritu.
The research was about boosting water efficacy, says Nyembezi. "Our first thoughts were about the drought we were experiencing in our country; how to produce plants using the water in more effective ways. We had heard of metaphysical energy being used to produce more, with less water."Ndiritu, who has been meditating for 25 years, put in an extra 30 minutes of meditation a day for the project, in which the veggies were grown under strict controls on a campus rooftop.
The study was based on the hypothesis that there is a form of energy that can be transferred by human beings - metaphysical energy.
The results were a little mind-boggling.
Nyembezi says: "I think a lot of research into the energy flow needs to be done, but we managed to see a positive difference. I think more people who have mastered this art can produce much better results than we did."
It isn't the first study of its kind. In 2007, Japanese researcher Masaru Emoto claimed that human consciousness had an effect on the molecular structure of water.
Locally, Avondale wine estate near Paarl uses the principles of biodynamic agriculture, formulated in the early 1900s by Rudolf Steiner, to produce their organic wines.Biodynamic practices include synchronising farm activities with the phases of the moon, and stirring the water used in the processes to create a "life-giving" vortex.
Studies have been conducted all over the world on the effects of metaphysical energy, music, and positive or negative thoughts on plants.
In England, "healing energy" directed at lettuce seeds resulted in better germination, plant growth and improved resistance to fungus and disease. Prince Charles is famous for believing his plants respond to his comments to them.
So should we use meditation to help our ailing lemon trees at home?
Ndiritu thinks it is obvious that one living being can send good vibes to another. "Mainstream science and technology does not recognise it, but perhaps it is changing."
4 important things about food psychology
1. In India, a spate of suicides among drought-and debt-stricken farmers prompted the minister of agriculture to suggest meditation facilitated by the Brahma Kumaris. Some scoffed at the idea, but about 7,000 farmers turned to yogic agriculture.
Their efforts are being studied by two agricultural universities in a five-year experiment - and initial results are encouraging.
2. A 2004 study of 5,000 seeds in Arizona in the US found that music had a significant effect on the germination rate.
3. California's Stanford University found that the alkalinity of water can be changed through meditation.
4. In 2015 astronauts for the first time dined on a harvest sown in space. Astronaut Scott Kelly's verdict: "Tastes good. Kinda like arugula." Kelly was one of three US astronauts who tried lettuce grown on the International Space Station in a Nasa experiment paving the way for a trip to Mars...