Architect Erin Lucero shares her journey searching for “love, balance, and harmony”—and finding “Anyi,” an ancient word that conveys that “the world is full of abundance and love, not scarcity and fear,” and that “all things are interconnected…and in balance.”
Lucero was already on a journey of self-discovery—first through yoga, then as a marathon runner in her 30s—when her vibrant mother died at 70, upending Lucero’s life. She subsequently pursued studies in Energy Medicine Training through the Four Winds Institute, choosing that program because, years earlier, she’d impulsively tried a shamanic healing session and felt “a shift…[that] began the dominoes that changed my life.”
In Peru, at the Sacred Valley near Machu Picchu, she had a powerful dream of walking in a beautiful city surrounded by “real people, dreaming the same dream as me… of a world of beauty and harmony, coming together in community…This book is my journey to finding this within myself…a place of being in the flow of love and harmony.”
Across 18 chapters, she shares her experiences, imparting lessons drawn from yoga and shamanism to help readers like she was: “stuck, out of balance, and yearning to find love and light.” If these words resonate, and you have background in the topics, you’ll appreciate Ayni. Lucero writes well and demonstrates vulnerability and integrity.
However, If “yoga nidra” and shamanic journeying are unfamiliar, you’ll likely struggle. Lucero valiantly tries to condense deep concepts, but she takes on too much for this relatively slim book, and her narrative is hit or miss. The book will be daunting for those who think yoga is Downward Dog and other positions and don’t know its underlying principles.
Lucero also interrupts her own storytelling at times; for example, Chapter 2’s “Explanation of Key Terms” should be a Glossary at the end.
Nonetheless, the author understands the keen desire to know our purpose and reject divisiveness, and her book will inspire those with previous knowledge of the subject.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
