MGI Film Documentaries
The Macrobiotic Global Institute is committed to creating inspiration and actionable education programs designed to restore personal and planetary health.
The Spirit of Rice Film Documentary
The Spirit of Rice Film Documentary celebrates the mystery of growing organic brown rice, while exploring the healing properties for both people and the climate. Made in collaboration with Planetary Health, the final version of this film was released in November 2025.
The Soybean Solution
MGI's latest project, The Soybean Solution, explores a healthy, sustainable alternative to the increasing global demand for protein-rich foods and raises awareness about how replacing animal-based products promotes human and environmental health.
The Spirit of Rice Film Documentary
Click the play button to watch The Spirit of Rice Film Documentary!
Sheri-Lynn's Story Behind The Spirit of Rice
In May, 2005, I was invited to Tokyo, Japan to be a guest speaker on macrobiotics for the Vegetarian Festival. Following my presentation, I was then invited to travel to southern Japan to attend a macrobiotic retreat at a Shinto Shrine.
Upon my arrival, a resident monk at the shrine asked that I follow him up a mountain overlooking the rice fields. There, we meditated in the four directions: EAST, WEST, NORTH, and SOUTH. During the meditation, I could see beautiful ribbons of white light tying a bow around the earth. When we walked down off the mountain, he walked me through the rice fields. It was my first time seeing how rice grew. When I left, he gave me a CD with a black butterfly on the cover and said that the black butterfly is protective and to call on it when I need direction and help (I remember my teacher, Aveline Kushi, always mentioned the black butterfly).
In the photo of the rice field in the picture carousel, you can actually see a spirit of bright light over the rice.
In November 2020, I began remembering my experience with the monk in Japan...and formed a committee of like-minded macrobiotic friends to create a film documentary about brown rice. Our film, The Spirit of Rice presents the story of how brown rice is grown in small farms in America in the north east. It highlights the work of Christian Elwell, co-founder of South River Miso Company, who has been growing paddy and dry land rice for over thirty years in the Northeast (where conventional wisdom said rice could not grow).
Christian guides us through the seven stages of rice over the course of a full year. He shares his spiritual relationship with rice, as well as the soil, water, and other elements that contribute to its growth and nutritional power. Some of the varieties of rice he uses have long AWNS (long hair like panicles that collect celestial energy during nighttime).
The film includes interviews with other rice growers that were inspired to grow organic brown rice.
Watch the video below as I explain the benefits of cooking and eating brown rice, a core theme of the movie.
Plants have so much to offer us, not only in better physical health, but also for the medicinal energies and higher frequencies they bring to our evolving consciousness.
I invite you to contribute and learn from this project! Thank you!
To One Peaceful World,
Sheri-Lynn DeMaris
We Need Your Help!
Please consider supporting MGI's mission of educating and inspiring people to act to restore personal and planetary health! Your donations will allow MGI to develop relevant projects like The Spirit of Rice and The Soybean Solution.
All donations are made through Macrobiotic Global Institute, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please check with your tax adviser to learn whether your donation is tax deductible in the U.S.
Spirit of Rice
Platinum Sponsor
Thank you to Eden Foods, the Platinum Sponsor for The Spirit of Rice Film Documentary!