Iranduba, Brazil: Fluence in the Rio Negro River in the Brazilian Amazon, Luiz Felipe, which has Down syndrome, radiates when he hugs a pink dolphin during a special therapy session.

Luiz Felipe, 27, is one of several patients with disabilities traveling from the nearby city of Manaus to participate in the alternative therapy sessions that have helped about 400 people in the last two decades.

Patients include young people who are autistic, those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and others who have lost limbs.

Physical therapist Igor Simoes Andrade, 49, who says his special form of animal therapy is “the first in the world” is not a substitute for conventional treatments.

But it “brings them joy, happiness, contact with nature and a strength you do not have in the hospital’s environments.”

The sessions are delivered free of charge with the support of sponsors.

Hannah Fernandes, a neuropsychologist working with children, said that unique therapy also has “social benefits” as they 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 have to breathe exercises and yoga to relax before coming into contact with the dolphins.

Fernandes said that the first time Luis Felipe participated in one of the sessions he “had not dared” to enter the water. Today he is full of confidence.

Pink River Dolphins – known as Boto – approaches the group of curiosity, swimming between their legs and flows among them, eagerly for human attention.

The “Bototherapy” sessions are approved by the Ibama Environment Regulator.

Simoes said the therapy helps its patients with “balance, strengthening the spine and psychomotor skills.”

“Here we do not treat pathologies, but people,” he said.