Love is like the sun

Some days, love is pure sunlight. It is bright, brilliant, and it fills you up with so much energy that you feel you could light up the whole world.

As I weave the path of Tantra into my relationship, I have felt this again and again. Tantra has brought so much Shakti, divine energy, into our partnership. More joy. More expansion. More presence in the small, ordinary moments of a shared life.

But if you have loved anyone for any length of time, you know the sun doesn't always shine.

When clouds cover the sun

There are times when the sun is hidden behind clouds. You can't feel its warmth. You can't feel its powerful rays. You might even wonder if it's still there.

In relationship, these are the days of distance, misunderstanding, old wounds rising to the surface, or simply the fatigue of everyday life. It is tempting to believe something has gone wrong. These are the moments I remember: I am walking the path of love. And that path includes all of it, the many colors, the stages, the meandering ways. Like the sun traveling across the sky, disappearing beneath the sea, and rising yet again. And again.

The sun never actually leaves. The clouds pass. The night turns to dawn. Love, when we tend it as a practice, works the same way.

Relationship is the most advanced yoga of all

I have always told my students and friends: relationship is the most advanced yoga of all.

On the mat, we practice staying present with sensation, breath, and the mind's restlessness. In relationship, we practice the same thing, only now the pose is another human being, with their own history, moods, and mirrors. Every trigger is an invitation to breathe. Every conflict is a chance to soften rather than harden.

The word yoga means union. What better place to practice union than with the person beside you After four decades of practice, I can say that all those years prepared me for exactly this. Not to have a perfect relationship, but to love like the sun: steadily, generously, through every season.
Spiritual partnership: growing together and alone

What a blessing it is to explore the depths of love as a spiritual partnership. Not a partnership where two people complete each other, but one where two whole beings choose to grow, together and individually.

In Tantra, we honor both Shiva and Shakti: consciousness and energy, stillness and movement. A spiritual partnership holds space for both. It asks us to stay rooted in our own practice while opening our hearts fully to another.

A few things that support this kind of partnership:

• A shared practice. Breathing, chanting, or meditating together, even for five minutes, creates a common frequency.
• Your own practice. Your partner can't be your only source of light. Keep tending your own inner fire.
• Seeing the divine in each other. Especially on the cloudy days, remember that the person in front of you is also a spark of the sacred.
• Rituals of return. Small, repeated gestures that bring you back to each other after distance or conflict.

The Gayatri Mantra: a prayer to the inner sun

The Gayatri Mantra is one of our favorite mantras to chant together. It comes from the Rig Veda, one of the oldest sacred texts in the world, and is traditionally chanted at sunrise and sunset, the sacred thresholds between light and dark.

Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah Tat Savitur Varenyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat

The mantra is addressed to Savitr, the divine light of the sun. A simple translation:

We meditate on the radiant, divine light that pervades the earth, the heavens, and all that lies between. May that light awaken and illuminate our minds.

What I love about the Gayatri is that it isn't asking the sun to shine brighter. It is asking the light within us to wake up. That's exactly what love asks of us too. When the outer sun is hidden behind clouds, we can still turn toward the inner sun, the light that never sets.

Watch us chant the Gayatri Mantra

A sunrise or sunset practice for two

You don't need years of experience to begin. Try this simple ritual with your partner, at dawn or dusk, for one week:

1. Sit facing each other, or side by side facing the sun. Let your knees or hands gently touch.
2. Breathe together. Close your eyes and take five slow breaths, letting your rhythms naturally meet.
3. Set an intention. Silently offer the practice to your love, to each other's growth, or to whatever your relationship needs right now.
4. Chant the Gayatri Mantra together three, nine, or 27 times. Let your voices blend. It doesn't need to sound perfect.
5. Rest in silence for a minute or two afterwards, feeling the vibration in your body.
6. Close by looking into each other's eyes and offering a simple bow, a namaste, or a word of gratitude.

If you're practicing on your own, the ritual works just as beautifully. You are cultivating the light you bring into every relationship in your life.

Love like the sun

Love will have its bright days and its cloudy ones. It will rise and set and rise again. The invitation is not to hold on to the sunshine, but to become the sun: to keep shining, even when you can't see your own light.

The ancient tools, technology, and practices of yoga and Tantra are here for all of us. It is my joy and honor to share them, and I know they can be a blessing for you too.

Ready to go deeper? Download my free Tantra Date Night handout.