Living from the Heart Brings Children and Dolphins Together

Dolphins love children -- especially children with special needs. When even the smallest and youngest of these special kids enter the dolphins' world, they are fearless. They smile and squeal with delight. It's magic.

Most of the children we see at Living from the Heart, receive more than their share of therapy and our intention is that they have a great time while benefiting from their dolphin experiences. Dolphins plus kids equals fun.

To introduce the children to the dolphins, we watch the baby and Mom dolphins swim by the large underwater viewing window. The turquoise background for these beautiful babies is spectacular. While at the viewing window each child receives a stuffed dolphin.

Now it's time for our special dolphin encounter. Three kids and their parent(s) enter the shallow encounter pool with their dolphin friend, dolphin trainer and Macy (founder and director of Living from the Heart).

The magic truly begins as our dolphin "healer" connects with each child. Dolphin and child touch foreheads as their personal introduction. This is an important moment when the dolphin-child bond begins.

This incredible time continues as the dolphin sonars the child's head, heart and feet as Macy and the parent comfortably cradle the child. The time in the water is about 45 minutes, depending upon the attention span of the child. Feeding the dolphin is something most kids really enjoy and they will have the opportunity to do that. Dolphin rides around the small pool are a favorite of everyone. We laugh --cry --share --and smile. The joy felt by everyone present is almost overwhelming.

After each dolphin encounter, we'll share ice cream and dolphin stories in the lovely picnic area at the dolphin center. We have formed a strong bond and just shared amazing experiences, and it's important to share our feelings.

It is imperative that each child feel as safe and comfortable as possible. For this reason we encourage parents and other close family members to be in the water or "poolside". Everyone is drawn in and a huge part of this wonderful sight.

Some of the positive changes we have seen take place after autistic children experience dolphin assisted therapy are they begin speaking --sometimes for the first time, sometimes after years of not speaking. 7 year old Kyle said "Mom" after his time with the dolphins. Needless to day Mom was elated to hear that word. Hunter spoke before her time with the dolphins, but she didn't converse --she quoted Dr. Seuss or "parrotted back" what she heard someone else say. During her time in Mexico with the dolphins, Hunter's parents told her not to go outside without them. One day she put her hand on the door knob, looked at her Mom and asked "can I go outside?" Not only was this conversing --she thought through what her parents had said --formulated and spoke a question. When Mom said no, she responded by not going outside.

Children learn 2 to 10 times faster when they have been in the presence of dolphins and they retain what they have learned. Mark graduated to a higher level school immediately following his dolphin therapy, and his teachers and family members give all the credit to the dolphins!! For the first time ever, Jeremy began working on grade level after his dolphin interaction.

Their focus increases. Kyle began watching t.v. while in Mexico for his dolphin therapy. This may not sound like a good thing but before he could not focus enough to even stop in front of the t.v.

Many of these children become calmer, and their social skills improve. Immediately following Jeremy's first swim, he was much calmer, spoke more softly and didn't chew his fingers. He began having normal conversations with others and making eye contact.

Scientifically, dolphin sonar positively changes the soft tissue in humans --much like ultrasound. We go to hospitals to have an area of our body receive ultrasound to see what is going on and/or to heal that particular area. That's what dolphins do! They can "see" what's going on inside of us --emotions --physical pain --pins in hips --pacemakers in hearts --and they can tell if a woman is pregnant, by picking up the heartbeat of the baby.

Not-as-scientifically, being in the presence of dolphins puts humans in a very relaxed state. Dolphins must think about each breath they take and because of that they live constantly in an alpha (relaxed) brainwave. When we humans are in their presence, our brainwaves become synchronized with theirs. Our brainwaves go from "beta" (active, more stressed) to "alpha". Our minds and bodies become much more relaxed.

The late Dr. Steve Jozsef, M.D., co-founder of Living From The Heart, measured the brainwaves of dolphin trip participants. He found that 100% of the time peoples' brainwaves dropped to alpha from beta. What this means to us is that when our bodies and minds are not stressed, we can heal --we can learn more easily --our immune systems are stronger.

The not-scientific-at-all theory is that when children and dolphins come together "magic" happens --"miracles" happen. They're gifts from God --they're inexplicable.

For more information on dolphin assisted therapy please contact us at:

Living From The Heart
(303)499-3034 --Betty Boon's phone number in Coloradobkboon@msn.com
011-52-329-2982098 --Macy's and Living From The Heart number in Mexico
macyjozsef@yahoo.com or visit us at www.livingfromtheheart.org
and www.vallarta-adventures.com