"A meeting in space and beyond time. Attunement and concentration. Deep listening. Magic and healing, the qualities of metal sound. Clarity of every moment."

Vlastimil Marek, Plasy, 1993

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Vlastimil Marek ( born August 23, 1946 in Krnov) is a a Czech alternative musician, Zen Buddhist, publicist, lecturer, writer and spiritual teacher. After graduation from secondary school, he began a follow-up study of tourism. He became seriously ill during that time and he had a near-death experience, which influenced his attitude to life in the following years. He has been interested in arts since his youth and in the 1970s he played in bands like MCH Band, Amalgam, Elektrobus and Extempore, and he also performed with musicians Emil Pospíšil and Jakub Noha. He was involved in music both practically and theoretically, and he was an active member of the Jazz Section. In 1975, he became attracted to Zen Buddhism, and in 1978 he spent two months in Zen Buddhist centres in Poland and in the following year he went to study Zen in Japan. In September 1986, he was arrested for organizing a gong peace concert and he spent several weeks in prison. In 1989, he became actively involved in the Civic Forum and he also briefly served as a member of parliament. Thanks to his knowledge and experience, he became well-known as a spiritual leader, and he has been actively involved in many associations which focus on spirituality. He lectures on New Age and teaches courses of singing and Tibetan bowl playing. In 1996-2011, he was authoring the radio programme Oáza which dealt with new age music and ethnic and ambient music. From 1999, he has been interested in the issues of natural childbirth and now he focuses on natural death as well. Until 1989 his works were being published in samizdat, afterwards he published over twenty studies and many other articles. He is also an active blogger.