Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Something Magical in the Water

Excerpt from Huffington Post

In an ongoing pilot study -- Researching the Effects of Dolphin Assisted Therapy at CDTC on Brain Activity -- in cooperation with the German Society of Air and Space Medicine and Research, DolphinAid and the Neurological Clinic Vogtareuth, scientists used water-proof EEG equipment to measure how human brain waves change in interactions with dolphins. The preliminary results have been called "promising." Other research, including an accredited project on children, dolphins and depression, is noted below.(1)

One hypothesis suggests that our brain waves sync to be in resonance with the frequencies of those of dolphins when we're exposed to them. Our normal activity in everyday thought is in beta wavelength. Upon exposure to dolphins, our brainwaves have been measured to go into alpha (the relaxation, effortless alertness, peak performances, daydreaming state, producing lower anxiety and better immune system function) and theta (the meditative state). Moreover, an increase by significant measure of hemispheric synchronization (the balancing of right and left hemispheres in the brain, which is associated with heightened awareness and increased ability to learn) was registered. (2)

Since our normal activity in everyday thought is in beta, we go into alpha during the "ah-ha" phenomenon when we have a great idea while driving or showering. You've doubtless had that wonderful experience. It's a gestalt, out of time, not a linear thought to be explained in one word after another, even as you read these consecutive words here. Rather it is grasped as a whole and then later translated into its discrete units. Einstein explained it to a friend this way: "Thoughts did not come in any verbal formation. I rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I try to express it in words afterward." That time-free knowing is exhilarating for certain. And this may partly explain the feeling.

Then there's the sonar.
Dolphins use their sonar/ultrasound to scan the world around them. Medical science uses ultrasound in pregnancies and for diagnostic information, to promote healing and to destroy cataracts, kidney stones and gallstones. Sounds in general can influence our biology, such as our heart rate. Ultrasonic energy from dolphins, is four times stronger than that applied medically. The medium through which it is transmitted, water, has an efficiency of delivering sound that is 60 times more efficient than air.

Because our bodies are primarily made of water, including the fluid that moves from the brain to the spinal cord, this interaction may be extremely defining. It may even help to reduce adhesions and scarring from old surgeries. (3) (4) They read the world around them, almost like an X-ray, with this capacity which even the Navy has discovered very useful. This is likely how Mateo knew about the boy's surgery. (5)
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