We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ash Miner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ash below.
Ash, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, my private music studio of 21 students dropped down to 5. I was a self-sustaining private violin and viola lesson teacher, who did dog training on the side for some extra income. As parents were forced to prioritize when they lost their jobs, I had to evaluate my income stream balance. If I attempted to wait for my students to return or not, I could potentially end up homeless. If I switched career focuses and tried to get more dog clients, I may not be able to go back to music when the time came. I didn’t know, no one did, how long lockdown would last. After a month of barely being in fresh air, I decided to focus on dog training. The bills were racking up quickly, and I didn’t have nearly enough money to cover them. I went into debt quickly, being a recently divorced, single woman in southern California.
I made sure people could find me on places like Yelp and Google. I compared my rates with other local professionals and raised them appropriately. I had been undercharging for years, because it was a hobby job. I still didn’t charge what I was worth, but it was considerably more than before. I updated the wording on my website and shot some new pictures of myself and my dogs. I actively offered on local Facebook groups when people looked for trainers.
The switch happened swiftly, and it seemed perfect. People were stuck at home with their dogs, now noticing every little thing that bothered them magnified ten-fold, because they were working remotely and these problem behaviors disrupted their productivity or professionalism. In other cases, people who had been putting off getting a puppy or dog decided now was the time, and had acquired what are now referred to as “Covid Puppies.” How can we socialize these puppies when we can’t really go out in public? How can we help these reactive rescue dogs overcome their fear and frustration from life in a kennel and who knows what before, without having groups to support that process? It was a tough challenge, and I did my best to meet it within the confines of quarantine.
I ended up pursuing a dual master’s in animal behavior last year, both equine and canine/feline tracks from Unity Environmental University. This is on top of my master’s degree in violin performance and my dual bachelor’s degrees in music performance and music education. While my studio has not bounced back, my dog training career and animal behavior profession have become such a fulfilling career path. I am exploring natural remedies to animal trauma, including a more spiritually-led study practice on top of my scientific certifications. It has been healing for me in a way I could never have imagined, and I wouldn’t undo it for the world.
Ash, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
When last I spoke with your readers, my name was Tasha. I have done so much personal healing since then, I dropped the T and the last A and legally changed my name to Ash. I had a dream in which a phoenix burned TASHA into a tree, then simply underlined the three middle letters, ASH. I tried it out for a nickname for a year before making it official.
I actually was inspired to pursue music as a career first by my 5th grade orchestra teacher, Margaret Jarvis, who tragically passed away in a car accident. She had moved to my school district in Michigan for this job, and we were the first generation of 5th grade orchestra students there. When her car spun out of control on black ice, she died on scene. It was a difficult time transitioning to a new teacher, that was the first time I’d ever experienced death in my life, but Mrs. Jarvis was the first person to ever unite my peers in helping me overcome my nerves. I felt like I would betray her efforts and kindness not to continue, so I did. Then in my junior year of high school, my standpartner said to me, “You know, you’re really good at this. You should major in music.” She was right, and I knew it. So I did. I was accepted with multiple music and academic scholarships to Eastern Michigan University, first for music education, then also for music performance. I was awarded the graduate assistantship to continue on and get my master’s in violin performance with a full ride and a stipend. Daniel Foster, my violin professor, and Kevin Miller, the University Orchestra Director, were two of my greatest teachers, guides, influencers, and forms of support during that tumultuous time in my life.
I started teaching even before going to university. A 6th grade student approached me after a concert where I performed a fiddle solo on my silver electric violin, asking me to teach her to play like that. I accepted, and things grew from there. By 2006, I accepted a teaching position at McCourt’s School of Music, and had over 30 students weekly. I graduated from Eastern in 2010 and moved to California for my soon-to-be husband.
Sadly, things did not work out between us. I tried to take on extra work in the form of dog walking and eventually dog training to help us make ends meet, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted too lavish a lifestyle and was still getting his Bachelor’s in Business Management. Various other relationship issues led to me filing for divorce in 2016. Luckily, I had a steady income from my private music studio and a handful of dog clients to help me afford living solo in southern California, one of the most expensive areas to live in the country.
That lasted until the pandemic, when I had to swap career focuses. When I began focusing on animals, I simultaneously began focusing on healing. I met these wonderful folks who are based in Sweden, Jonathan Horwitz and Zara Waldeback of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies; they started offering online courses from the first time somewhat reluctantly, and now I owe so much of what I’ve become as a professional, and hope to continue to become as a person, to them.
I’ve always been a teacher. I was invited to demonstrate for the younger ballet classes when I was only 9 years old. I was offered a job at the local horse stable working as an assistant counselor for the summer camp at 13 years old, eventually becoming a counselor and giving some lessons. My clients in both the music and animal worlds both say how much they appreciate me not only telling them what to do that works, but also why and how to continue it in future, how to grow with it. It’s something that I have come to notice really mattered throughout my life: teachers who go above and beyond to not only impart wisdom on their subject, but life itself for each of their students.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
It hit me one day how related my careers are in terms of being therapeutic: animals and music. Of course they are. But if you had told 14-year-old me that I would be pursuing a path of helping people and animals, I would have been unable to believe you.
After my orchestra teacher died, I sank into a deep depression. I had always been an outcast at school, and it was just too much when I went to middle school. After being referred to the school counselor for suicidal ideation, I endured the worst possible abuses you can imagine, physically, sexually, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.
After being on my own healing path, I have come to see the significance of these intertwining paths in my life. I’m working to open a healing sanctuary for trauma survivors, including various species of animals, and music students. The music students can perform for the animals to help overcome their performance anxiety, knowing they’re helping to soothe the animals. I’m still studying spirit-based healing practices, and have already gotten my master’s degrees in music and animal behavior. My next step, I believe, is to become a certified life coach as I get out of medical debt and save up money for a facility.
Last year, I had to pause all my clients for one month while I recovered from lung surgery. I had been coughing up blood monthly for 18 months, and was eventually diagnosed with a carcinoid tumor on my right bronchus. My brilliant surgeon did a lobectomy of the lower lobe of my right lung to resect the tumor. That has been such a teacher for me about physical pain, it was my first major surgery and my first professional medical leave. I hope to campaign for better medical care in this country after this experience, as well as on behalf of several of my clients who have been unfairly denied life-saving treatment due to the bottom line of the insurance companies. For my sanctuary, I hope to have the funds to ensure all who are in need and a good fit get everything they need that we can provide, regardless of their financial situation.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I grew up with undiagnosed ADHD. I was frequently told I just needed to be challenged more, or I needed to seek more sensitive treatment, or I needed to take advanced placement courses. The lesson I learned was that I needed to do more things to occupy my mind. I am currently in the process of unlearning that lesson, and instead, know my own truth: I need to give my mind grace to do what it needs so that I can be my authentic self. Whatever doing that comes, professionally or personally, is from a place of being me and contributing what I want to the world. No longer for the sake of producing.
Contact Info:
- Website: intuitivechoicek9.com
Image Credits
For my main profile photo, Kayla Espiritu