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This morning, before the sun had fully risen, I was unrolling my mat, preparing for our Pranayama class, when something unexpected happened. A small piece of paper, handed gently to me—a heart, carefully drawn in green. It was handed to me by the tall, beautiful Alaskan girl. She has been part of my journey for two months now, first as a fellow student in the last Kundalini course and now in the 300-hour Teacher Training. I have always seen her as cool. And, as I wrote in my recent blog post on Wise and Shine, I have trouble with cool girls.

And yet, there she was, offering me this green heart. My reaction? A face. Not a smile, not gratitude—just a face. A moment of hesitation, of questioning. What is this heart about? And then she said, “It’s Valentine’s Day,” a day I had completely forgotten.

Later, I had to find her. I had to say thank you, because she had taken the time to create something for everyone, spreading small tokens of kindness. She had chosen to include me in that. And as we stood there, she said something that stayed with me:

“I think the energy between us is so weird because you have this very feminine side of sweetness, and I’m more tough.”

I just listened.

I owed her more

But as the day went on, something in me shifted. I realized I owed her more of myself, a glimpse beyond the walls I had instinctively put up. She had reached out to me many times, and I had kept my distance. So I asked her to sit in front of me, in the sun, with her eyes closed. And I told her the truth:

“I don’t know how to handle your energy.”

It was a moment of honesty, unfiltered and raw. And it opened a door. What followed was a real, human conversation.

I told her that if she were a close friend, I might have reached out earlier to explain what I had been feeling. But we were still learning each other’s energy, and I knew she was in her own process of healing. So I had kept my distance.

And yet, here we were.

We love to put people in boxes. It makes understanding each other easier. Caroline Myss, one of my favorite teachers, calls them archetypes—patterns we discover in each other and that is how can make sense of one another. And maybe that’s part of what was happening here. But when we leave the door open, when we allow ourselves to see beyond the first layer, we may find something new behind it.

This morning, I received a green heart. By the afternoon, I had also received a pair of delicate green earrings—ones she had made herself. And somewhere in between, we had given each other something far more valuable: understanding, connection, and the courage to meet each other as we are.

Valentine’s Day is not just about romance. Love is so much bigger than that. It moves through interactions, through honesty, through the silent moments where we choose to stay open instead of shutting down.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day. And may love find you in all its unexpected forms.

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