Home in the Narrows is about
finding space to dwell in the journey.
It shelters in an ancient contemplative mountain.
It receives energy from an active, engaged, flowing river of life.

What is ‘Home in the Narrows’?

Home in the Narrows is the name I’ve taken for my practice of Spiritual Direction. Finding Home (a space to dwell) in the Narrows (a liminal passage or way) is the guiding image for the work I do.

Home in the Narrows literally arises from the surname I inherited from my ancestors (Narum). My great-grandfather emigrated from a farmstead near Gol, Norway in the Hallingdal Valley. The name Narum brought together two old Norse words: Nór {meaning ‘narrows’ or a ‘narrow passage’ (as in a river, fjord, or lake)} and heimr {meaning ‘homestead’ or ‘home’ or ‘dwelling place’}. The name arose directly from the landscape as the homestead was on a narrow, long strip of farmland between a steep mountainside and the Hallingdal River.

“The silence of landscape conceals vast presence...
The shape of a landscape is an ancient and silent form of consciousness. Mountains are huge contemplatives. Rivers and streams offer voice;
they are the tears of the earth’s joy and despair.
The earth is full of soul.”

— John O’Donohue in Anam Ċara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom