Belief that reading stories to water will confer health benefits to those who drink it is prevalent in Boulder.

Thanks for sharing. I felt amused and I think that is silly. I am still wanting to hear from the person I asked, because I want to understand what he or she specifically thinks a hippy attitude is. His or her idea might be different from yours or mine.

Such beliefs are obviously silly, but they may also be true (placebo effect, power of positive thinking, etc). We lack sufficient data to form a very strong conclusion one way or the other, but we certainly have some.

  placebo effect, power of positive thinking

Bit of a jump from 'reading stories to water.'

What matters is that one believes it.