Latest Blog Posts

Reading Time: 3 minutes Life is change, endlessly moving and shifting. If you try to hold on, you’ll get rope burn. Our spiritual task is to find our inner composure amidst the realization that …

UPDATES Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes I haven’t published a blog post in several months, because all of my writing has been devoted to my latest manuscript. I’m super excited about the prospect of publishing it …

The Divine Eroticism of Mystical Christianity Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s a quote I keep seeing shared around social media from my fellow spiritual seekers. While I’m used to seeing quotes from the Buddha, Eckharte Tolle, or Deepak Chopra, seeing …

Save Yourself by Bringing Forth What Is Within Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes If I have learned anything in my years on this planet, it is that you never know what is going on behind closed doors. Nowadays, it’s easy to hide behind …

Why Is Love So Hard? Read More »

Reading Time: 3 minutes Last week, I wrote the four best things to say when your partner is upset. The post is a handy guide for what to say when you want to love …

3 Phrases to Start Using in Your Relationship Right Now Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes Ok, so your partner is clearly upset with you. Maybe you know why, maybe you don’t. Hopefully you love them and want to make things better. It’s important to note …

What to Say When Your Partner Is Upset Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes Nowadays, you can find yoga just about everywhere in every corner of the globe, including at gyms, studios, corporate offices, festivals, and more. Alongside kundalini, hatha, Iyengar and vinyasa, you …

Is Yoga “Just” Exercise? Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes Despite the ineffability of the mystical experience, those that have seen the Ultimate Reality often cannot stop talking about it. Indeed, the art that springs forth from those that have …

The Ecstatic, Divine, and Loving Poetry of the Mystics Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes When you first get into learning about Buddhism, it can be overwhelming. There seems to be a lot to know, including the four noble truths, the eightfold path, the three …

What the Buddha Actually Taught Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes Last year, I wrote a blog post to help everybody build a more secure attachment style. It went over the five most common strategies to feel more secure in intimate …

How to Shift From Anxious to Secure Attachment Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes An interest phenomenon occurs anytime we sit down and meditate to cultivate more positive qualities of mind and heart. Rather than experience those positive qualities themselves, we often feel quite …

Love Reveals Everything Unlike Itself Read More »

Reading Time: 3 minutes Last week, I covered some of the basics for connected communication, including listening, validation, and communication. What that post didn’t discuss was the underlying assumption that communication is important in …

Compassion Is More Important than Communication Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes If you ask the average person what is important in relationships, they will probably answer “communication.” You’ve likely heard the famous quip “the three keys to a successful relationship are …

How to Actually Communicate in a Partnership Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes There are a number of insightful stories in spiritual communities that involve looking at the same situation from three different perspectives. Sometimes there are three people meeting the same challenge, …

The Monk and The Three Rain Barrels Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes There is a story I love that Ram Dass tells about his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Mahara-ji. If you know anything about the role a guru can …

Seeing Everything as The Mother Read More »

Reading Time: < 1 minute The meat industry knows if you saw the horrors you would turn vegan. The military knows if you saw the horrors you would be a pacifist already. The loggers know …

See the Horrors Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes (This post is Part III of a three-part series on loving the world inspired by, and including poems from, my newest poetry collection, Pebbles, coming June 1st. See Part I and Part II here.) …

Loving the World: Part III Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes (This post is Part II of a three-part series on loving the world inspired by, and including poems from, my newest poetry collection, Pebbles, coming June 1st. See Part I …

Loving the World: Part II Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes (This post is Part I of a three-part series on loving the world inspired by, and including poems from, my newest poetry collection, Pebbles, coming June 1st. See Part II …

Loving the World: Part I Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes I believe, quite simply, that love is the reason we are here on earth, and that nothing is more meaningful or powerful than the expression of love. I see every …

Attention Is the Food of Love Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes People everywhere are learning more and more about their attachment style. What was once a relatively obscure psychological theory, has now exploded into a compendium of surveys, books, trainings, and …

5 Ways to Build a More Secure Attachment Style Read More »

Reading Time: 8 minutes Last week, I covered five questions for re-igniting your sex life, because I love questions. I think one of the most important things we can do in our lives is …

The Deepest Question You Can Ask Yourself Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes It happens to almost every relationship. What was once new and exciting somehow becomes dull and routine. It is perfectly natural, too, as couples transition from dancing all night and …

5 Questions to Re-Ignite Your Sex Life Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes I love words. I love writing words, thinking about words, and researching the etymology of words to understand how they developed. For example, did you ever look at the word …

The Power of Tapas Read More »

Reading Time: 8 minutes I have written a lot in the past few weeks about love. I believe we are here on this planet to love, to discover the love within ourselves as we …

The Key To Overcoming Heartbreak Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes Whenever I hear the very important lesson that “every human being wants to be happy, and no one wants to be in pain,” I agree… mostly. On the one hand, …

The Power of Being with Suffering Read More »

Reading Time: 3 minutes One of the best things we can do for ourselves is love ourselves. It is also one of the hardest things for us to do. Fortunately, most of the obstacles …

Good News Everyone: Self-Compassionate People Have More Compassion for Others Too Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes My work in the world consists of one singular focus: love. I believe that love is the reason we are here on this planet, and our life’s purpose is to …

Introducing: The Love Wheel Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes One of the greatest misconceptions I have found about the practice of meditation is that it is supposed to be easy. A huge reason for this is the abundance of …

What Are You Unwilling to Feel? Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes I don’t usually write to specific genders on this blog, but I wanted to make an exception for this post. This one is for the lonely guys out there, the …

For the Fellas: How to Get Women and Get Laid Tonight Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes When I begin any deep philosophical discussion with my students, I like to start with the idea that all philosophy and, indeed, most religious and spiritual traditions, are rooted in …

Why Is There Suffering in the World? Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes Somewhere along the path of spiritual awakening, an amazing transformation begins to occur. When we wake up to the true nature of reality, we no longer see a world of …

Is That So? The Bliss of Awakening Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes If I were to sum up my work in the world in one word, it would be connection. This realization came after many years of teaching and writing about love …

The Three Stages of Connection Read More »

Reading Time: 3 minutes When I coach couples, one of the most common concerns is the lack of sexual satisfaction and frequency that happens as the relationship goes on. Oftentimes, a fiery and passionate …

Six Reasons to Schedule Your Sex Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes A few weeks ago, I wrote about the traits of a conscious partner. Practicing mindfulness, focusing on giving, and working on oneself are all important elements of an evolving consciousness. …

If You Want to Be Happy, Drop the Love Story Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes Humans have always had an interesting relationship with being right, despite how wrong we are about most things all the time. On a societal level, we disagree about just how …

Do You Want to Be Right or Do You Want to Be Happy? Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes One of the most vague and misunderstood terms in the modern self-help lexicon is the term conscious. One source of this confusion lies behind the multiple meanings behind the word. …

What It Means to Be In a Conscious Relationship Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes One of the worst things to ever happen to the Western view of love was when a group of psychologists came together and decided to refer to close relationships as …

How to Love Without Attachment Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes Many years ago, at the beginning of my spiritual path, when I was exploring big concepts of God, love, and consciousness, I remember coming across the following passage:  Form is …

You Can Be a Masterpiece and a Work in Progress at the Same Time Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes I recently had an amazing conversation on the Learn to Love Podcast with Jennie Lee, a fellow yoga teacher and author. We talked about what it means to not just …

The Guru Is Not Within, Something Else Is Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes The first noble truth of Buddhism is simply dukkha–the reality of suffering. Though it is often translated as life is suffering, I prefer to think of it as the plain …

How to Turn Your Pain into Medicine Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes If you practice in a meditation community for any period of time, it will not be long before you hear a reference to the monkey mind. The monkey mind is …

Moving Beyond the Monkey Mind Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes Every couple experiences conflict. It is an inevitable fact of life that when two people meet, there are going to be challenges. That is because every relationship is a meeting …

Don’t Argue to Win, Argue to Understand Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes One of the most profound and simultaneously challenging insights on the spiritual path is that our mind is inherently dual in its thinking and there are nondual ways to be …

Without “I” There Is No “Other” Read More »

Reading Time: 5 minutes In the singer Amanda Palmer’s TED talk on The Art of Asking, she talks about working as a living statue and handing out flowers to passersby. She shares how impactful …

To Love is to Understand Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes The experience of love tends to have two sides. The first side says that love is the most beautiful, powerful, and meaningful experience on the planet. This side is bolstered …

Why Every Couple Should Meditate If They Want to Stay Together Read More »

Reading Time: 7 minutes I want you to imagine for a moment that you have never seen rain. Imagine you are an alien from another planet, visiting earth for the first time. You’re sitting …

The Greatest Obstacle to Happiness Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes Two weeks ago I wrote about how every new relationship should be aware of the natural phenomenon that typically occurs a year or two into a relationship. Namely, couples will …

Five Ways to Keep Your New Relationship Energy Alive Read More »

Reading Time: 6 minutes Last week, I wrote about the basic idea that you cannot love someone and try to change them at the same time, because if you are trying to change someone, …

The Unconditional Love of Spiritual Awakening  Read More »

Reading Time: 4 minutes Imagine laying in bed with your lover/partner/spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/FWB, and you ask them, “Honey, do you love me?” And even though you already know this person loves you and you have already …

You Cannot Love Someone and Try to Change Them at the Same Time Read More »