Advanced Bio-Aquatic Exploration

You don't have to be in the oceans or with Dolphins to experience the benefits of CranioSacral Therapy in the water. You can experience its benefits in your private or local swimming pool! Or even in a hot tub!

Swimming with Dolphins?

At first, I was unsure about even swimming with Dolphins. I had tried to swim with them years ago but they avoided me. It could have been because I was feeling so blue and miserable at the time. (I would have avoided me too!-JN) Now, I'm learning more about it. For example, when in the water with Dolphins, if you are sensitively tuned in, you may find there is a palpable feeling of intelligence in the water itself.

The experience of CranioSacral Therapy in the water is very different than on land. The bodymind floats and moves in unrestricted space and seems unencumbered by gravity and yet it doesn't feel as your moving at all. Some report emotional release, or even feelings of ecstasy and others of a quiet emptiness or "No Mind."

The Facilitator was first introduced to work in the ocean in an Upledger Institute sponsored Bio-Aquatic Exploration Seminar in 2001, but went beyond this and reports yet other discoveries in his new book, TOUCH THE OCEAN. 

We can explore ourselves on the water and on land.  In the marvelous CraniOcean, we can explore our interaction with the ocean, its currents, the sun and the sky.  Ocean and sky can mirror each other. 

Weather Patterns and Human Emotions

"Everywhere in nature the elements of air and water mingle in manifold interplay. Every system of rivers, every lake, every sea, is an organic totality with it's own circulation, and to each of these belong the air space above it."

Theodore Schwenk,
"Sensitive Chaos" (Rudolf Steiner Press, London)

In 1996 it was found that electromagnetic currents run through weather patterns. Human emotions are also composed of electromagnetic currents. When doing CranioSacral water therapy in groups with other therapists it wasn't uncommon for us to track weather patterns on the research vessel's radar mirroring the group activities as a function.

We may further explore inter-relations between weather patterns and human emotion in updates. Stand by!

The Next Evolution

The next evolution is to work with patients in the water and with the dolphins assisting and supporting this work: one on one.

Helen, an older woman, aged 84, following our group was afraid of the dolphins. She said this aloud to them, "I'm afraid of you.". She couldn't swim, either and had to use water wings.. When she bravely got in the water and held onto one of the dolphins she said it was going too fast and asked it to slow down. Immediately it slowed down. This was repeatable. She found, that after awhile, she could simply think "slow down" and it would. I found that this is one example of the way the dolphins are tuned in and different with each person. I also found:

• Each dolphin meets you where you are without regard to race, age, and so on.
• Each dolphin responds to where you are in thought and in feeling.
• Because they have no agenda going on, other than to play and explore, they are different with each person.
• However personal they may seem to be, there is also a boundary, energetically, and an essential dignity and integrity.

We have found that the Dolphins are not unlike CranioSacral Facilitators. We can learn more about CranioSacral Therapy about about ourselves by being with them and in presence with them.

I found that, like the finest of CranioSacral Therapist/Facilitators:

• They have no judgment
• No Agenda
• They are different with each person and kind
• They are deeply intimate with each and yet impersonal

I describe the Dolphins as "Super-Facilitators."

The Dolphin Experience

The photos here are with trained Dolphins. Dolphins in the wild are very different and do not let you touch or interact with them like the trained Dolphins. In the wild they keep a respectful distance. These photos were taken at The Dolphin Experience in Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island. This is outside of Freeport.

Grand Bahama Island is just a 30 minute plane ride from West Palm Beach, Florida. Anyone can swim with the dolphins and benefit! All you need is your sense of play and exploration!

You can contact "The Dolphin Experience" directly by phone:

US toll free 888-365-3483 or 954-351-9889

Or follow our links and contact the Upledger Institute for educational courses around the dolphins and water therapy on the research vessel, "The Dolphin Star."

Hints for Swimming with Dolphins

The Sanctuary

We've all heard the amazing stories and statistics about dolphins and their perception, for example, how a dolphin can discern a ping pong ball in a school of fish 400 yards away, or scan the belly of a shark
to see what its had for lunch. We may not know how to meet them
in the water.

The Dolphins at The Dolphin Experience are in a natural lagoon enclosure which is accessible to the ocean. They are quite friendly to humans and there is nothing to fear. The behavior of these dolphins around humans is different than the behavior of dolphins in the wild.

When wild dolphins show up while swimmers are in the ocean with the trained dolphins of the Dolphin Experience, for example, the trained dolphins tend to snub the wild dolphins! Now, that's "attitude."

Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT)

The Upleger Institute has a few terrific programs for both clients and/or patients and also therapist. I'm most familiar with the Dolphin Assisted Therapy(DAT) program, which is open to people of all ages. In this program, approximately 8 to 12 CranioSacral Therapists work with 4 to 6 clients, and in concert with two dolphins, over several days.

We just broke ground last summer, 2006, on the new BADA program, where therapists themselves can be treated.

Dolphins in the Wild

Dolphins in the wild tend to keep a respectful distance from humans. Many who visited the enclosed lagoon in the Bahamas have swam with the dolphins in the wild but longed to get closer and to touch them.

Anyone can also go to the Big Island of Hawaii and find areas where the wild dolphins school. You can swim out a half mile or so and then be surrounded by hundreds of dolphins. Some of these schools also contain schools of Humpback Whales. I've never done this, but it's observed that one dolphin usually monitors the swimmer the whole time the swimmer is around the schools and at a distance of about five feet.

Wild dolphins appeared while our group was doing CranioSacral in the ocean's shallow waters and kept a respectful distance. If you do encounter dolphins in the wild it is highly advisable to allow them their space and not try to suddenly grab or touch them. Consider how you would feel if someone did that to you. It is also best to try and keep your hands and arms close in to your body as this is less sensory stimulation for the dolphin.

Both experiences are different.

Here is an experience written by a friend of mine, Sue Cotta, while swimming with wild dolphins off the Big Island in Hawaii.  Some of you may find it instructive.

Dear CraniOcean,

     What I can say about swimming with the wild dolphins.  I get jazzed just writing about it.  The first time i saw a wild dolphin in the water I was still on a boat and I lost my breath!!  Then the first time I saw a dolphin up close in the water, I gagged on my snorkelling gear - despite being a very experienced snorkeller.  Their presence is very impressive!

     I was swimming, wondering if the dolphins knew where I was because there were none near me.  All of a sudden I looked down and there were about 10 wild dolphins swimming below me.  And at my speed!  I then looked to my right and there was a dolphin about 3 feet away from me (I could have touched it if I wanted!).   This dolphin was looking right into my eyes & had me transfixed.  I looked over to the left and there was a group of 3 dolphins about 5 to 10 feet away. There were also dolphins right in front of me!!  I felt like I was in the "pod". 

     I wanted to be respectful.   And I (silently) asked the dolphins if I could be part of the pod.  "Can I be part of the pod?"

     I adjusted my swimming style and started to make a right hand turn (I was swimming with my hands by my sides - just usimg my feet and body) and then they ALL turned with me at once while   keeping the same distance away from me.  I tried turning to the left, speeding up and diving deep under the surface of the water. They were there with me the whole time!  I then asked that I be able to be part of the pod (without leading the pod ) & just let my body go wherever it wanted.  All of a sudden we were all moving in a slow undulating motion, turning at times, but still maintaining the respectful distance at all times. 

     Images came to me.  I began to think of how our earth might be if we all learned to be part of the pod.  These dolphins were teaching me as we swam.  It was like I saw the potential of the entire universe if we --especially we "humans"--lived in this type of harmony together.  There are really no words that come close to describing this experience.  It was nonverbal and beyond "words." 

     Two weeks after swimming with the dolphins, a children's book "downloaded" into my consciousness & was recently published.  It's about how children can change the world by working together in harmony.  All it takes is simple permission and a light touch to impart love and healing to anyone.  And children can do this better than many adults!

     I now go to the Big Island in Hawaii whenever I get the chance to swim with the dolphins.  And each time is very different and always very healing.

                                                                           Namaste,
                                                                           Sue Cotta

     Thank you, Sue.  I'm sure many who read this testimonial to the dolphins will find it healing also!-JN

FYI...

The "Good Book" says

"Ask the very beasts, and they will teach you,

ask the wild birds - they will tell you,

crawling creatures will instruct you,

fish in the sea will inform you:

for which of them all knows not that this is

the Eternal's way,

in whose control lies every living soul,

and the whole life of man."

Job 12:7 - 10

Dogs, Cats, Horses

     James is also available to work with dogs, cats, and horses! 

     He does this mainly on special request of patients and clients.  Why?  Because they say the work he does produces rapid and tangible results, feels so great on "humans" and is so non-intrusive that they want the same imparted to the pets that they love.  

     James works in a complimentary fashion with practitioners of both traditional AND alternative medicine--he doesn't play favorites and is ready to recommend good practitioners from both fields, from Dentists such as Jennifer Hathaway, DDS, and Doctors of internal medicine, Erica Bradshaw, MD, that he's worked with in his office to those who communicate with animals, such as Reiki Practitioner Lorraine Jane Smith and Interspecies Communicator, Joan Ranquet.  And in the same way, he is open to working with traditional and wholistic Vets.

   "Wholistic Vets?"

  This could be the wave of the future.  In Hopkinton, Massachusetts, for example, at Mainstreet Animal Services founded in 1983 by Margo Roman, DVM, there is a mainstream animal service with a wholistic health center attached to the facility.  The mainstream animal service provides conventional medicine while the Holistic Health Center provides physical therapy, chiropractic, massage, and CranioSacral Therapy.

     Says Dr. Roman, "People are demanding this...They are adopting holistic practices for themselves, they understand the benefits, and they want those options for their animals because they are part of the family."

(from Animal Wellness, Volume 7, Issue 2, Innovative Clinics by Catherine Owsianiecki)

 
     Mainly, with Dolphins, in the wild or sanctuary, have fun!

Forgive The Sting Ray?

     It's high time this was posted.  It's as if the Sting Ray Kingdom has started to worry over the massive degree of hateful emotion directed at it now on the collective.  You can read this appeal to Forgive the Sting Ray on CraniOcean's blog at Blogspot.com.

     It was originally set up as a poem, accounting for the flow of the reading.

    (Why not forgive the Ocean while we're at it? -J.N.)

"So Long and Thanks for All the Fish"

     If you haven't seen it already, go out and rent The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, based on the book by Douglas Adams (Yes, a Dolphin Approved film, Rated DA) today, if just for the scintillating opening of dolphins at play in the Universe.

     In the movie's opening, the Dolphins are trying to warn mankind of impending disaster to Earth, but since people are only the 3rd most intelligent species on the planet, the Dolphins' clicks, whistles and keens are interpreted by unfortunate mankind only as pleas to learn more tricks for more fish!

     Not that the fish go unappreciated. 

     (When I'm with Dolphins doing this work all I want at day's end is to eat is Fresh Fish, well, Fresh Sushi and Yummy Mackerel. - J.N.)

     Moments before the Dolphins ascend from the planet Earth in the Rapture, they have one last message for mankind and it's performed during a double somersault.

                         So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

     There's a preview on Jengajam.com brought to you by Touchstone Pictures.  So put on your dolphin hat, if you are into that sort of thing, and feel free to sing along with the bouncing globe!  It won't hurt you...

Dolphin Poetry?

     Let's end this segment today with a poem by the great Persian poet, Hafiz, shall we?  Those following the CraniOcean.Calm News know that lately, this Facilitator has really been into Hafiz. This guy happens to be the most widely read poet in the country of Iran, a country we don't yet seem to understand, really, anymore than we get Iraq :) I hope we can all work together with the dolphins someday!  It's an incredible privilege we can do this in a country so free as the USA!

     (WARNING: This poem is really difficult to read in the midst of a busy work day.  May one suggest to come back to it when calm and quiet?  It is a totally different vibration almost.  Thanks. -JN)

     Okay, so how can a poem relate to working with dolphins?  When some poets write, it is as if they are quiet messages from the dolphins to us all.  You may have a different experience.

     This poem is entitled, The Lute will Beg.  Here it is translated by Daniel Ladinsky, from his stunning book on Hafiz, The Gift. 

You need to become a pen

In the Sun's hand.

We need for the earth to sing

Through our pores and eyes.

The body will again become restless

Until your soul paints all its beauty

Upon the sky.

Don't tell me, dear ones,

That what Hafiz says is not true,

For when the heart tastes its glorious destiny

And you awake to our constant need

For your love

God's lute will beg

For your

Hands.

Clear as mud?

:)

     Something I've really liked about this ancient poet is that he's a playful rascal and will often refer to himself in his own poems, as if his poems were written from a place of witness.

"The Witness"

     When we are working with dolphins, if we are to work with them properly, appropriately, we are too working from a place of witness. 

     Call it the "witness state", a place where ideas of right and of wrong doing, a place where emotional reactions and hurtful judgments are also witnessed. 

     Being witnessed, such destructive emotions then pass away from our precious bodies as harmlessly as quiet water.

     It just takes a little effort to be aware that is it here.  This place is not unique to poets, holy men, or philosophers. It is not the property of one country.  (In outer space, astronauts see no boundaries...)

     This is a place where each of us can also live.  It is a place that is life giving and nourishing to our health and that of others.

     This may be where work with the dolphins really begins!

More About Dolphin Swims

     Please go to the new CraniOcean Blend(notablog)  This information will help you to find out some of the best spots for dolphin and even whale swims. 

Don't stop here!

Welcome to the Ocean.  Your Ocean.  And New Life!

                                    Stand by for Updates!

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