Dolphins, Doctors of our Soul

This book is my story with the wild dolphins. It is told through human stories, transcripts of videos and conversations with participants of the Dolphin Within expeditions: a research program monitoring human brainwaves and heart rhythm before and after dolphin encounters. It integrates all the different ways I have used to capture the experience I call the 'Dolphin Within': the shared but intensely individual experiences people have when they are in close contact with wild dolphins. They are feeling Dauphin themselves or Homo-Delphinus. This is the term used years ago by my friend Jacques Mayol in his famous book. In 1999, Jacques told me, at a conference on Dolphins, in Paris ‘Olivia pardon but I steal the title of your book ‘The Dolphin Within' to translate in English my book Homo-Delphinus, The Dolphin Within Man. Years ago, very few people in the Western world talked about near-death experiences; it is only since collective experiences have been gathered that we are now able to conceptualise this phenomenon more widely. Following the same approach, I have collected a large number of Dolphin Within experiences over the last fifteen years, from the regular research trips during which I have witnessed many encounters between people and dolphins. Different patterns have emerged out of the two hundred case studies, which show the power of transformation and healing that such encounters can create. However, going further than just collecting experiences, I tested the brains of the participants before and after their Dolphin Within experiences, using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine connected to a notebook computer. I then started to use a heart rate variability monitor which gives me an insight into the heart rhythm of the participants. Using these two methods, I have found scientific evidence of and possible explanations for the changes in mind, body and spirit I have observed in people who encounter dolphins. The brainwave pattern changes and the human brain shifts into a very slow frequency called ‘theta’. The heart rate variability pattern reaches a high coherent rhythm. It is that specific state that I call the “Dolphin Within”. That state leads humans to a self-transformation process that has great potential. One can say that my scientific research demystifies the healing power of dolphins. However, the more I observe, the more I realise how much I don’t know, and the more I realise how much we People of the Earth have yet to learn from the People of the Sea.