“This book is about my personal and professional adventure in Australia with the dolphins. It explains the research I have conducted while swimming with them in the ocean for many years. My work looks at the therapeutic effects the dolphins can have on people. I study indeed the brain, heart and soul of the humans before and after a dolphin swim. The book describes the different methods I have used to study what I call the Dolphin Within the shared but intensely individual experiences people have when they are in close contact with wild dolphins. Humans are feeling “Homo-Delphinus”. This is the term used years ago by my friend Jacques Mayol in his famous book Homo-Delphinus. In fact, Jacques confessed to me later, having stolen my title to translate his book into English 'The Dolphin Within Man'.
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 do not know, and the more I realise how much we People of the Earth have yet to learn from the People of the Sea. This book explains why I have dedicated my life to explore the human-dolphin connection through the 'Dolphin Within' research program and ODB Consulting. As a business coach, I have developed a new human psychology of human potential based on a dolphin model. Not only do I talk about the Corporate Dolphin way of doing business, but I also bring business people to experience the 'Dolphin Within' themselves, in order to bring change in their personal and professional lives.
In the presence of a dolphin, our heart and brain get in sync with the heart and cerebral rhythm of the animal. That experience could unveil the future of human consciousness by transforming us into Homo-Delphinus, by fostering our connection with our Soul. Hence the title 'Dolphin, Doctor of the Soul'.
This book also mentions my ‘crazy’ dream to facilitate the return of dolphins in Sydney Bay … a project about sustainable management of harbour cities that could be replicated around the world. There is also a chapter on water-birth. My daughter Lilou was born in the water like a dolphin. Lilou has become my research project since that day. At two, she was always first in the water with the dolphins with her little fins and her mask. Nowadays it is convenient for me to have a young teenager who can communicate by telepathy (even if she has asked for a phone when she turned twelve!).
Much of this book was written on the sea, on a yacht, with the dolphins around me. I could just pop my head out of the cabin, away from the computer screen, to spot a fin, even when the yacht was moored in the marina. I found that floating among dolphins was my best source of inspiration. I hope that this book will inspire you too to follow your dream as I do.
Enjoy your Dolphin Within adventure… and come and join me physically or via the Internet!"
Dr Olivia de Bergerac
Sydney, 2017”
oliviadb@optusnet.com.au