by Shelle Sandberg

The Art of Inner Peace opened its door on Avenida Del Mar in May of 2017. Shyan Zarrabi is quick to credit his mother Sam, with the original concept, starting with the first location in the Dana Point Harbor two-years-ago.

Zarrabi was raised in Atlanta, Georgia to be conscientious of the environment and to be aware of how he fit into it. The family moved to Southern California seven- years-ago where he completed his education at the University of California at Irvine, and established a career in wealth management.

 It was a wonderful move for the Zarrabis. They found their roots and solidified their place in the community, while helping to serve the public as a whole. 

Shyan acknowledges San Clemente being quite a colorful city. With the locals each unique in their own way and tourists not only of other states but also other countries too, he never knows who’s going to come through his door. His definite strengths are being adaptable, personable, empathetic and understanding of people.

A degree in finance and his analytical mind quickly determined his customer demographics to be two-thirds women and one-third men, usually between 18-30 years old. Many return customers are in their forties and fifties. Zarrabi said the professions of his clients are also interesting. They range from doctors, lawyers, and hippies, to retirees of all backgrounds. They include boundless cultures and religions as well.

The centerpiece of the store is a life size tree that not only lights up, but changes colors every few seconds. He gives credit to his parents for the idea of the shop’s focal point. They were also the ones possessing the contacts to have it reach fruition. 

When asked what the three main aspects of the shop were, he responded, “As in buckets?”  

Those would be: 1) Earthly--least processing from the Earth. Rock, minerals, crystals, sage, etc.  Raw and natural. 2) Textiles—traditional, but not so much conservative. Originating from various places such as Indonesia, Morocco, and India. 3) Jewelry -for men and women. Anklets, rings, earrings, etc. The selection is only growing.

The busiest time for the shop seems to be all the time. There are birthdays every day, holidays, festivals, many cultural celebrations, and additionally, new and full moon rituals.  It seems as if something is happening every day!

The Zarrabis take pride in going as close to the source as possible, acquiring items difficult to find at the best and fairest prices possible. They travel to meet with their suppliers, wanting to feel the energy of each product. The presentation of these magnificent finds is extremely important to them and they prefer not ordering from catalogs.

The growth of Art of Inner Peace has been explosive in less than a year. San Clemente is seasonally driven when it comes to downtown and getting word out has been mostly by word of mouth.

The newest endeavor for Zarrabi is an online business he plans to have up and running by summer. He’s excited to have the online presence for his customer base, providing photos, pricing, and next day shipping. 

Shyan’s future vision is to have a portion of some larger location serve as a lounge. With the colors, sounds, and incense… the energy naturally lends itself with this step in the progression to a mini café of sorts. A place serving coffee and tea beverages, as well as small unique and healthy snacks. 

One can feel the authenticity the moment the threshold is crossed. It can’t be copied or bought. The love and spirit; the blood, sweat and tears that went into ‘mother and son’ hand painting walls, 12 hours a day for a week.  

Art of Inner Peace helps to educate and enlighten. Feel free to ask anything and everything, the Zarrabis are focused on sharing the message and spirit of love. 

When asked if there was one thing Shyan Zarrabi would like our readers to know, it was:

“I imagine that a lot of readers here would be a little more open-minded, but just to anybody, a message to everyone if I had a loudspeaker that everyone in the world could hear, I would say, ‘Be more open-minded and understand that other people have different experiences. And if you have that basic understanding it’ll make it lot easier for whoever you are and whoever you interact with. Be forgiving. Whether it’s traffic, whether it’s an issue in a retail store, whether it’s something with a friend… live and let live. Be open-minded. Be willing to learn.’”