Men and women are searching for deeper meaning and purpose in their everyday lives and in their relationships. In this groundbreaking book, which takes up where his best-seller Journey of the Heart left off, John Welwood shows how intimate relationship is a powerful spiritual teacher that can help two people discover their deepest capacities and resources, while learning to relate to each other in a more honest, enriching, and enlivening way.

Starting out by addressing the question that inevitably arises in every relationship- "What am I doing here, is this really worth the struggle?"- Love and Awakening sets forth a compelling new paradigm of relationship as a path of soulwork. The book offers not only a new vision, but also a wealth of practical guidance to help couples work with their most difficult problems, through learning to relate to the whole range of their experience with greater awareness and loving-kindness. Also included are lively dialogues from Welwood's relationship workshops that dynamically illustrate the book's core ideas and demonstrate simple, direct ways to connect more deeply with oneself and one's partner.

Written in a poetic style that remains faithful to the spirit of love, with chapters ranging from "Soulwork and Sacred Combat" and "The Power of Truth-Telling," to "The Inner Marriage" and "Men in Relationship," this book will compel and inspire readers to approach their relationships in a whole new way. As two people learn to let their love awaken them from the frozen habits of past conditioning, they embark on the path of "conscious relationship." Love and Awakening is about much more than just making a relationship work; it's about how a relationship can make one's whole life work in a richer, more deeply satisfying way.