Meet, Leah.

Leah recently graduated from Kairos’ Listening People to Life (LPL) Certificate Program; a practicum learning and training experience in the art of spiritual direction. Although she is a recent graduate, she has been chasing elements of spiritual direction for many years without realizing there was already a name to what she longed to create.

In late 2021, she tidied up an old barn loft and created a retreat space for those who sought quiet time- a place to just be. The barn was called Gokotta Studio, based on the Swedish concept of “Gokotta" (meaning, “to rise early in the morning just to hear the first birdsong.”) It was a safe haven- a place that begged you to come as you are, slow your stride, tend to your heart, and see what is waiting for you in your stillness. With a new location, Gokotta Studio remains true to the original mission and has only deepened its intent by now offering spiritual direction.

The poem below sums it up quite nicely

: )

“Would you be

Someone for my Soul to talk to -

An enfolding silence drawing me to speak

Of the lives that I have dreamt,

But never thought of living?

Could you listen me into speech,

So I may come to know by speaking

That which lies inside of me?

Could you try to see me as God might see me,

With caring look upon my love and faults

To watch unfold the person I become

To see and know but not to blame?”

Poem by Lauren Ungar