Mel Ash is a writer, artist, and teacher/performer with a lifelong interest in transformative experience, cultural change, and consciousness. A former authorized Zen teacher in an Asian tradition, he has taught workshops nationally on Zen, Beat spirituality, and alternative psychology. Present during many cultural shifts, he attended Woodstock as a young teenager, worked at a punk rock paper in the eighties, and is currently active in contemporary alt. culture, exploring the cultural dimensions of spiritual action. In addition to Shaving the Inside of Your Skull, he is also the author and illustrator of The Zen of Recovery (1993) and Beat Spirit (both published by Tarcher/Putnam). He is currently researching and working on his new book. He is active in Providence's First Unitarian Church, lives with Sarah Owens-Ash, a Boston radio personality, his two sons, many cats, one newt (no, NOT THAT ONE!), and occasional wayfarers in Providence's "International Neighborhood."
