The role and power of positive emotionsPositive emotions and practices in second/foreign language (L2) educationSecond/foreign language (L2) education have been the focal point of a rising number of studies in the past decade. One of the offshoots of such a turn toward emotionality has been pedagogical loveLove, which is still in its infancy in many academic arena. There is a dearth of research on how pedagogical loveLove is perceived and practiced in adult learner educationAdult learner education. Furthermore, limited attention has been devoted to unraveling the implications and applications of this teaching approach in the instructional-learning contextsInstructional-learning contexts, including English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. To narrow these gaps, the current study aimed to cast some light on the contribution of pedagogical loveLove to adult EFL learnersEFL learners’ emotional safetyAdult EFL learners’ emotional safety and empowermentEmpowerment. To do so, 33 Iranian EFL learners were invited to a phenomenographic studyPhenomenographic study using a semi-structured interviewSemi-structured interview and narrative frameNarrative frame. The results of thematic analysis evinced that Iranian adult EFL learners regarded pedagogical loveLove as essential to their emotional safetyEmotional safety and empowermentEmpowerment. Furthermore, it was identified that pedagogical loveLove influences learners’ emotional safetyEmotional safety through eight venues/practices, but empowermentEmpowerment was triggered through six practices related to loving pedagogyLoving pedagogy. The study discusses the findings and enlists some theoretical and practical implications for EFL teachersTheoretical and practical implications for EFL teachers and teacher educatorsTeacher educators, who can realize the significance of positive emotionsPositive emotions and practices like pedagogical loveLove in adult learners’ academic life.