Thursday, August 09, 2007

Dolphin Therapy creates magic!

Sometimes life throws its hard knocks at you. You lose balance and fall. It is very interesting how you can actually look for help and find solace in animals!We have often heard of the dog as man's best friend, helping the blind, acting as an able guide and companion to the elderly. Now you should hear about dolphins.

It is very interesting to learn about the dolphin therapy, which is achieved when humans and dolphins swim together in water, touching, interacting and playing.This is most useful for children who are mentally, emotionally, and physically impaired. It can also help cancer patients and people with spinal injury.

How the therapy works is still under investigation. However, it is said that combining interaction with this gentle and communicative animal plus the immersion in warm water assist greatly in creating a positive response from the patient. It is mostly the dolphin's innate gentleness and a mysterious power that triggers the healing process in humans.Apparently, dolphins are able to give unconditional love and compassion. This increases self-confidence and brings joy and motivation to the patient, who starts to respond, stimulating the immune system and leading to healing.

I heard it first hand from a friend who went to such a centre and swam with the dolphins. She left feeling very relaxed and peaceful. The pictures she shared with me were quite impressive too.
Often, I take moments watching fish swimming from one side of the tank to the other in total peace. Watching fish swim has a calming effect on humans. With the raising levels of stress and noise in the world, this therapy assists to calm the mind and spirit and help one go back to face realities of life.

Now we can actually swim with the fish (in this case a dolphin) and get an even better calming and healing effect. And while these centres we are told of are in far places like Florida, Bahamas, Hawaii and Australia, a revelation another friend who lives in Dar-es-Salam shared confirmed that we are not so far from a natural centre.

He said that recently, he and his family took a boat ride off the shores of Zanzibar and went after groups of dolphins around the island. Once dolphins spotted them, they all jumped from the boat in the water and swam near them. These dolphins are of course, not as domesticated as the ones in aquariums and healing centres, nonetheless it is even a better way to see how these sea mammals are so genuinely loving and can give unconditional love to the swimmers even though they are not given a reward, fish, from trainers.

I have always wondered why it is difficult for us to look at nature and try to rebuild some of the qualities and attributes that we were initially born with, but have lost in the meantime.

Quick "Facts about Dolphins"