LOS ANGELES: When Ani Lalazarian changed careers in 2020, leaving the fashion world to become an energy healer, breathwork facilitator and spiritual guide, she held tight to one conviction: that children and adults all carry a special light within them-they simply need the tools to find it. Now, Dragonfly Dreams Press, LLC is releasing her debut picture book – “Into the Heart of the Forest: A Journey to Love” (ISBN: 979-8218897246 paperback; 979-8218883294 hardcover) – a gorgeously illustrated adventure story that brings those tools directly to the page.
“Children need more than advice in emotional moments-they need tools they can actually feel and use in their bodies,” says Lalazarian. “That became the inspiration for everything I’m building.”
According to the author, Lalazarian’s path was anything but linear. She spent more than six years as a fashion designer, running her own business before a trip to an orphanage in South India stopped her in her tracks. It set Lalazarian on a healing journey that led to certifications in Usui Reiki (levels 1 and 2), Reiki Master training, shamanic healing, breathwork, Kundalini Yoga and HeartMath(r). A mother of twins herself, she eventually found her way to children’s storytelling, finding it to be the most natural extension of her spiritual expertise.
That mission is the foundation of “Into the Heart of the Forest: A Journey to Love.” It’s more than a bedtime story. It’s a doorway into emotional resilience, courage and nervous system awareness-and an invitation back home to yourself, to love, to your center. Through imaginative scenes and gentle guidance, readers are invited to practice calming visualization, self-soothing techniques and empowering affirmations alongside the characters.
“In every child lives a light so bright it can change the world,” writes Lalazarian. “I wanted to write a story where children don’t just watch the characters become brave-they feel it themselves, in their own bodies, as they turn the pages.”
By embedding breathwork and guided visualization into the narrative itself, Lalazarian gives parents and caregivers a built-in emotional regulation tool for bedtime, big feelings or any moment a child needs to return to themselves. The main characters’ journey – from frustration and fear to courage, connection and love – mirrors the emotional landscape children (and adults) navigate every day, and the techniques woven throughout reflect more than a decade of Lalazarian’s training in the healing arts.
“My hope is that children return to this book again and again-not just for the story, but for the feeling it gives them,” says Lalazarian. “That they close the last page knowing they are brave, they are strong and the light within them is real.”
Ani Lalazarian’s children’s picture book, “Into the Heart of the Forest: A Journey to Love,” is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major online booksellers.
For more information about “Into the Heart of the Forest” visit https://www.instagram.com/dragonflydreamspress/.
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This news item first appeared on CaliforniaNewswire.com
