Off to Meet the Dolphins

The Dolphin is one of the seven main animal symbols in Value Anatomy, embodying the energy of Love and the Heart Chakra. Seven years ago, I began collaborating with Olda Bureš, the first Czech dolphin therapist – meaning someone who assists dolphins in healing people, not the other way around. Olda spends each spring and fall in Turkey, bringing Czech and Slovak patients to a dolphinarium and watching small miracles unfold on a daily basis. His patients include those with severe disabilities and rare syndromes that no one knows how to treat – except the dolphins.

With my background in organizing, researching and teaching animal-assisted therapy and specializing in “other animals” (besides the most popular dogs, horses, and cats), I was able to support Olda’s efforts from the beginning. He confirmed many of my long-standing theories, but I realized that in general, what people here achieve with a dog or a horse over the course of a school year, he achieves with a dolphin in 10 days. That was stunning. What didn’t surprise me, was that Olda arrived at the dolphinarium “accidentally.” Having been a vegetarian for decades and an animal-rights activist, he came as a complete skeptic as a part of a film crew, but ended up staying and getting his therapist certification.

The Dolphin is a strong spiritual symbol for many esoterically inclined people, the often adored and idealized without much thought about the actual animal. They aren’t just cute. Dolphins are predators, smart and avid hunters. Particularly males are highly sexually active to the point that if a suitable female isn’t around, a male will do. But there is no question about their intelligence, playfulness, complex social interactions and their surprising willingness to help people. They are one of the few wild animals genuinely interested in people and ready to interact. With all my knowledge of the way animals help to heal people, I must say that dolphins are by far the best healers – and Healing is one of the main values within the Heart Chakra.

For all these years, my role was strictly technical, focusing on PR, communication with clients and lecturing in the Czech Republic. This year I’m finally headed to Turkey to spend 11 days with Olda and his dolphins. I’m very excited about the unique opportunity to observe this form of animal-assisted therapy first hand and talk to clients. I’m particularly please because my dear friend and Value Anatomy team-mate Daniel Kupšovský will be joining us. We plan to shoot footage for the first Value Anatomy video, discussing the subject of Love and the Dolphin as a symbolic animal. Daniel will also be shooting an audio documentary for the Czech Radio.

If you can’t reach us in the first two weeks of October, it’s because we’re swimming with dolphins 🙂

See more at the Delfinoterapie Facebook Page