Charming and Grandiose
I can not love more this book is great throughout both the content and illustrations. From the Author's note is honest, clear and with the wisdom that life has given to express it lovingly in his work.The illustrations are beautifully detailed and you can feel the talent, the great dedication and care to perform them. The content contains beautiful quotes and the message is totally valuable for children, teenagers and even adults focused on their heart.This wonderful book is a great gift to give, not only to family, colleagues and friends, and is highly recommended for schools with a comprehensive educational focus for personal development and the social-emotional abilities of children. The author not only presents very relevant information, but proposes simple practices available to everyone, and a glossary about feelings.
This book exposes two of the most beautiful abilities that make us human, which are empathy and creativity, hand in hand with self-awareness. At present, we have begun to understand the so-called Empaths, for whom this book will be a treasure (and for parents of very empathetic children) since the author explains many of its expressions. I myself am an empath and as a child I used to see and feel the emotions of others as spheres of color that surrounded them, and when they touched my aura I connected with the other in a type of unity, then a communication arose in which I perceived what the others felt in my own body. Sometimes I felt very overwhelmed and my parents did not understand, so they could not support me properly and ended up taking me to a psychiatrist who prescribed sedatives. This gift has been a challenge but it is one of my great talents with which I have given deep purpose to my life and my relationships. I have no doubt that the development of these capabilities is fundamental to solving many of the social and even political conflicts, the way we interact with animals and nature, and that can be critical for the future of humanity.
¡Do not forget to check the website, it is great!

This book, for me, had its pros and cons. I really liked the story of Iphelia and the drawings that accompanied her, although I don’t think the part about her having strong empathy was stressed enough. The other part though, was much too general and simplistic_ the part about our emotions. It could be this way for me because I’ve been meeting and working deeply with my feelings for the past 10 years, so this presentation seemed very basic and something that I didn’t really need.

That being said, I kept thinking as I read that it would be a great book for parents to read, and they could share Iphelia ‘s story with their children while reading about each feeling for,themselves.

I am grateful to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A phenomenal book about emotions and spiritual well-being. I wasn't expecting much when I browsed the first few pages of the book, but it turned out to be full of wisdom and very well structured in its delivery and pace. It's an insightful book that helps people recognize, acknowledge, and establish a healthy relationship with their feelings. The content came from a deep holistic place of integrity. It is a gem of a find.

Full disclosure: I’ve had the pleasure of working with Erick French—Iphelia’s author and illustrator—editing multiple Iphelia betas prior to its publication last year and am sharing my review only after receiving the green light from NetGalley Support.

The content of this title is extremely engaging and will pique the interest of anyone who’s enjoyed books like Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic” or Lissa Rankin’s “Anatomy of a Calling.” It’s not a light read—it’s a catalyst for deep introspection and a guide for unpacking unexamined assumptions about ourselves and our pasts that are preventing us from easing into a heart-centered life, i.e. a life in which we use our talents, direct our passions, and even allow our past traumas to serve the highest good rather than operating from the places of anger, paranoia, and despondency so many of us have been familiar with since childhood.

To be completely frank, when I first “met” Iphelia, I wasn’t sure what to make of the book’s structure. Yes, it begins as what seems to be a rather lighthearted graphic novel about a little girl, which will leave some readers asking, “Is this a children’s book?” I’ve come to realize that its rich colors and the emphasis it puts on imagery are part of its medicine. Even as intimately as I know the book, I find some new detail each time I flip through it, without fail. French has a knack for inviting readers to remember what it was like to experience the world—so filled with love, chaos, opportunity, and scary-seeming things we couldn’t yet understand—as children, then segues into the more challenging part of the teaching, inviting us to tap into our adult awareness to get clear about our personal and collective pasts and really take responsibility for where we’re going.

Like other reads that push us outside our comfort zones, Iphelia may take you places that make you uncomfortable or have you thinking, “I’m just not on board with that; maybe this book isn’t for me.” I experienced this reading “Big Magic” and “Anatomy of a Calling,” and became a better reader for working through the shock and awe of being introduced to ideas that had me scoffing one moment and softening the next. The writers who can give us these experiences are giving us the gift of feeling.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it’s a sensory experience. In addition to the graphic novel, there are sketches and images throughout that will have anyone who doodled in their middle or high school notebooks eager to whip out a journal and get back to work. The cover itself has a wonderful suppleness to it, inviting us to interpret “feeling” two ways, really reminding us of the mind-body connection that the text itself will help the willing reader tap into through its many creative (and liberating) suggestions.

Iphelia is one of the few books I've read in the last several years that I find myself not only thinking about but also picking back up to reread when life takes a turn or I simply need a refresher in my busy life, especially while raising teens. In Iphelia, there is a focus on paying attention to feelings and learning how to distinguish between emotions (which is very relevant in our world since it is easy to avoid and numb oneself rather than feel). Reading Iphelia helped me better understand and gain clear boundaries in some tricky relationships. The exercises explained in the book are powerful and insightful.

Iphelia is a two-part experience, the first being a graphic novel for adults, and the second a more traditional self help book.. The images in the book help bring home the author’s message in a unique way.

I recommend this book to anyone hoping to make life improvements and better understand the relationships they are most closely involved in. Loved it!!

"We are all born with the capacity for empathy, but because adults have learned to refrain from expressing what they are really feeling, the practice is denied and the ability invalidated." So begins the introduction to Iphelia: Awakening the Gift of Feeling.

Unfortunately, I find myself entirely conflicted about how to write this review. On the one hand, this book has encouraged me to feel my feels. On the other, it was meant to teach me to be empathetic. I'm afraid it has succeeded on the former and failed on the latter. I thought I was going to get a graphic novel that told a story and taught me something about how feelings and empathy work in adults. That is not what this turned out to be.

Instead, the first part of this book is broken into sections that alternate between a very basic graphic story about a little girl discovering and defining emotions, and "inspirational teaching" lessons. Then, the second half of the book starts getting in to deeper water with many acronyms like "SUMA" (Strengthen Up Mature Adult) and "LOCK" (Love On Connected Kid) and "LOOK" (Love On Other Kid).

Learning these acronyms leads to sentences like: "In order to effectively LOOK we have to be able to sustain an open heart, which means we have to be SUMA LOCKed." And that's the point when I realized this educational material was probably being wasted on me. I will have to accept that the root cause of my inability to fill my personal integrity bowl is likely due to the process addictions that I refuse to shake.

Those of you who are more open to the idea of deep personal work will likely have a much more personal connection with this book and may even learn how to connect with your inner child. I admire the efforts the author has made to present this information in an approachable way, but I do wish the description had been a little more indicative of the depth of the new-age thinking that would be required to appreciate this work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tyrian Press for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book.