"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." —Loran Eiseley

SINCE this year's Best Of issue focuses on a year of change, including the visionary thinkers who make it happen, my vote for Best Quantum Hydration Augmentation Utensil goes to the folks over at Quantum Age Water Stirwands. A few years ago, David Schneider and Exavier Phoenix developed the Stirwand, a miniature pen-shaped device used to stir and naturally balance the chemistry in your drinking water so you can hydrate better. All you have to do is drink your standard daily recommended amount of aqua and stir each cup with a Stirwand for 20 seconds. After just a week of continued use, your blood oxygen levels will rise dramatically and your cellular detoxification process will improve. You can use the wands not just to improve your own potable water, but also help your pets, plants and laundry.

The Stirwands are made of simple constructions of granulated minerals encased in surgical-grade polycarbonate plastic. What happens is, the noninvasive resonance of the minerals in the wand interacts with the molecules of the water on a quantum level to maximize the molecules' hydration potential. The water becomes more energized, so to speak.

Recent Nobel Prize–winning work by doctors Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon showed that water molecules normally penetrate cell membranes in single-file fashion through conduits called aquaporins, and if the molecules are too bunched up and stuck together, which is often the case with poor quality water, then they don't make it through the membranes and hydrate your cells. With the Stirwands, the "high matrix energy" of the minerals balances the water chemistry in a number of ways, including reducing the specific gravity of the water enough to allow the molecules to pass through cell membranes in the proper fashion.

Admittedly, the wands themselves look like something from a science fiction movie and they come in several colors. For example, the turquoise Olympian Stirwand is for optimizing athletic performance and is recommended for daytime use. The purple Zen Master Stirwand is designed for relaxation, meditation and the calming bath. The wands reportedly last a lifetime and never wear out.

Video and audio interviews with Schneider himself are all over the web. He's a gray-haired guy who lives out in the Oregon wilderness, about 20 miles from his own mailbox. He's been involved in health, wellness, green foods and the water industry for 30 years and eventually became disappointed with the billions of dollars being spent on dozens and dozens of brands of bottled water that aren't really that much different and none of which contain water's optimal chemistry anyway. So he partnered with Exavier Phoenix, whom he calls a "Renaissance man of the quantum universe," and co-created the Stirwands. Together they are making some pretty damn good change, as the wands retail between $70 and $90 apiece.

Along with all the talk about quantum consciousness, life forces and the thought-energy of water molecules, several clinical tests have been taken. For example, in a 30-day, 50-subject study by Finestra Research Labs in Las Vegas, people's average hydration increased by 23.5 percent and their average blood oxygen increased by 9.6 percent. Not bad numbers, might I add. On a more metaphysical plane, people are claiming everything from restored hearing and chakra balancing to cleaner lawns and calmer pet cats—all due to better water caused by the Stirwand. Schneider and Phoenix now claim they've proven it's the energy and chemical balance of the water before you drink it that matters, not how much you pay for the water or what natural geyser it came from.

Schneider will appear with the Stirwands at East West Bookstore in Mountain View on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30pm. The Age of Quantum Water is upon us.

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