Rev. Kathy Zavada is an ordained Interfaith minister, inspirational speaker and long-time retreat and workshop facilitator as well as a nationally acclaimed performing/recording artist and producer of sacred music.
Rev. Kathy served four years as spiritual leader/minister at Unity of Oroville (2017 to 2021) and two years at Unity at the Lake in South Lake Tahoe (2021 to 2023). She also served those communities as music/choir director providing her sacred brand of special music on a regular basis. Presently, she is founder and senior minister at Unity Community of Ashland in Ashland, Oregon.
For the past 30 years, Rev. Kathy has accepted invitations to speak, perform music and share her message of living wakefully with love and compassion at innumerable spiritual centers, schools, retreats, workshops and special events. She has offered retreats focused on music/meditation and mindfulness in some of the most beautiful places on the planet.
I have dedicated my life to love and to the sharing of the widest truth, and wish to be a blessing each and every moment of this precious life.”Rev. Kathy Zavada
Spiritual Path
Rev. Kathy’s ordination in 2012 as an Interfaith Minister was through the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York. This was a culmination of her studies of the world’s religions over the past 25 years.
“It has been a deeply enriching and inspiring journey, choosing to develop this interfaith approach. I am drawn to the truth teachings of numerous paths and appreciate being able to weave what I’ve found to be most profound and helpful teachings into my talks and music.
“The Dalai Lama puts it well when he says,
If our behavior follows our kind and loving nature, then, quite naturally, immense benefits will result, not only for oneself but also for the society to which we belong. I generally qualify this love and affection as a universal religion. Everyone needs it, believers as much as non-believers.”
Dalai Lama
Rev. Kathy dedicates her life to living wakefully and supporting others in their process of healing, opening, and becoming more conscious. She has journeyed to India five times and spent months there in the presence of the hugging saint Mata Amritanandamayi, better known as Amma, committed to her spiritual growth through the practices of meditation, chanting, study of scripture, and selfless service. She also spent a year at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon serving as an “Artist-in-Residence” offering weekly concerts, chanting programs, meditation instruction, and yoga.
Rev. Kathy with Dr. Jean Houston
Music
Rev. Kathy’s musical expression is deeply informed from a place of resting in silence and the infinite loving presence of pure being. She had a life-changing spiritual awakening in 1991 while living and serving at Breitenbush Hot Springs in the old growth forest of Oregon. At that time, she experienced the total quieting of the mind, complete freedom from body/thought identification, and the discovery of the self as infinite peace, silence, love and awareness.
This song was inspired when sitting on my favorite rock at Lake Siskiyou gazing at Mt. Shasta, feeling a deep sense of being connected with everything. It’s a celebration of the inter-connectedness and oneness of all life.”
— Rev. Kathy Zavada
Her music has been heralded in the Top-Ten Best World CD’s on Amazon.com and downloaded on iTunes. Over the last 35 years, she has produced 11 CD’s of her original music. Rev. Kathy’s latest CD is a collection of chants composed by Michael Singer, The New York Times bestselling author of The Untethered Soul, and is entitled Songs Of The Untethered Soul. Rev. Kathy arranged, performed and produced all the songs resulting in a CD filled with spiritual energy and palpable love for the divine. Her 38-year close relationship with Michael Singer is an inspiring story in itself.
Her musical tastes and recordings are multi-genre, ranging from inspirational to folk, celtic, jazz, chant, and world music. Her songs are lauded by such luminaries as Byron Katie, Greg Braden, Adyashanti, Unity Worldwide Ministries and countless others.
This song was inspired by my Dad’s passing… a song about how precious and short life can be, so let us spend what time we have finding myriad ways to share love.”
— Rev. Kathy Zavada
Rev. Kathy shares that “music is a very sacred way of transmitting something that takes us beyond the mind, into an ocean of love, a deep experience of peace, well-being, and pure presence.
“Consciousness is clearly transmitted through music, and when it is refined, it has a way of going straight to the heart and melting anything that makes us feel separate from Love. As we open to love, naturally, we effortlessly feel connected, feeling our oneness with God, and with each other.”
Education / Career
Rev. Kathy began her musical career at the age of four when auditioning for a private song-and-dance nursery school in Baltimore, MD. She quickly became the lead singer on television, at festivals, and for dignitaries such as the Governor of Maryland. Rev. Kathy went on to become the youngest piano student accepted at the University of Florida at 13-years-old. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in Music and Psychology.
Rev. Kathy speaking at UCOA’s inaugural Sunday Service on Nov. 19, 2023.
Rev. Kathy began her professional recording career in 1989 with her debut CD Heart Space. She has released 10 more CD’s on her own independent label Precious Music.
She has volunteered in prisons teaching classes and sharing music, worked with abused children, and given music programs for teens at private therapeutic boarding schools. Rev. Kathy has also supported numerous charitable works through benefit concerts to build homes for the homeless, rehabilitate sex workers, and grant last wishes for those with terminal illness. For over 20 years, she offered musical programs to raise funds for the local meals-on-wheels program in Mount Shasta.
“I am so grateful to be living a life that allows me to use my talents and gifts in a way that brings awakened consciousness,” Kathy shares. “I love writing and recording deeply conscious music. Sharing the transmission of consciousness through performing music and serving as a minister is incredibly rewarding. My life is dedicated to love and to the sharing of the widest truth in order to be a blessing each and every moment of this precious life.”
