Iranduba, Brazil: floating in the Rio Negro river in the Brazilian Amazon, Luiz Felipe, who has Down syndrome, radiates as he hugs a pink dolphin during a special therapy session.
Luiz Felipe, 27, is one of the many disabled patients who have traveled from the neighboring city of Manaus to participate in alternative therapy sessions, who have helped some 400 people in the past two decades.
Patients include young people who are autistic, those with cerebral paralysis, Down syndrome and others who have lost members.
The physiotherapist Igor Simoes Andrade, 49, who says that his special animal therapy form is “the first in the world”, does not replace conventional treatments.
But, this “brings them joy, happiness, contact with nature and a force that you do not have in hospital environments”.
The sessions are provided for free, with the support of sponsors.
Hannah Fernandes, a neuropsychologist who works with children, said that unique therapy also had “social benefits” because those who have a handicap come into contact with people and situations outside their daily lives.
Before entering the water, Luiz Felipe and two young women participating in the session, do breathing exercises and yoga to relax before getting into contact with the dolphins.
Fernandes said the first time Luis Felipe had attended one of the sessions he “had not dared” to enter the water. Today it is full of self -confidence.
The dolphins of the pink river – known as Boto – approach the group out of curiosity, swimming between their legs and floating among them, eager for human attention.
The “bototherapy” sessions were approved by the Ibama environmental regulator.
Simoes said that therapy helps its patients “balance, strengthen the spine and psychomotor skills”.
“Here we do not deal with pathologies but human beings,” he said.
