michaelsharrington (Hridayam)

I was lucky enough to grow up among the second-generation, coastal redwoods (called Sequoia sempervirens) in the rural Scotts Valley hills, ten miles from the beaches of Santa Cruz, not far from the California’s first State Park, Big Basin. The enormous forefathers of these gentle trees were almost entirely clear-cut, dropped from the earth as part of the conquest of California, with most of the destruction done between 1840-1930’s.

Less than two miles from the Glenwood Drive home of my youth, lives a single, old-growth redwood, originally called ‘King of the Forest’. The King is 260 feet tall and was close to 300 feet, before a storm knocked off his top hat a few decades ago!

The King is the last remaining old growth redwood in the entire Glenwood region, spared during the massive, redwood deforestation when difficulties arose felling the Queen, whose magnificent stump sits benignly under his canopy.

I had seen this great tree once, shortly after we moved to this region when I was ten. I barely appreciated his benevolent longevity, pristine presence, noticing only his size.

Some 30 years later, I rode my mountain bike to his place of residence, an inconspicuous grove that he watches over in a small redwood ecosystem, some 30 yards from the roadside. Awed by such grandeur, I stood before him, pressing my heart into his magnificent base. It felt like a hug with a grandfather that I never knew, who had returned from a prolonged prison camp or a great uncle awakened from a decades-long sleep.

Only it was I who had awakened from the coma, sleep-walking my way through life.

Growing up among the coastal redwoods has naturally-altered my DNA without gene splicing. I always intuited this benefit of living in a redwood grove.  What a feeling and a true physiological phenomena. It includes an increased ability to breathe and spiritual elevation.

Current scientific studies have shown that redwood forests are like gigantic lungs, increasing oxygen to our tissues, electrifying the atmosphere with increased ionic power. Because of these attributes and many more factors, these forests act as non-toxic deterrents to the high-tech, chaotic Age, alleviating us of depression, anxiety, insomnia and other dysfunctions in our highly charged Electro-Magnetic-infused planet.

The tallest trees on earth are the California coastal redwoods. One towering giant in Redwood National Park, in the far reaches of northern California, is 380 feet in length. These old growth grandmother and grandfather coastal redwood forests are much more potent than the ones presided over by their second-generational offspring. Many of these primordial trees have resided on earth for 1500-2000 years.  The redwoods have endured thousands of earthquakes, storms, and forest fires. They have borne witness, unmoved, utterly still, while continuing to emanate a majestic splendor no matter the outer conditions of the planet.

It’s as if God Herself, Mother Nature, bestowed via an Almighty stroke, the magical powers of patience and fortitude into the redwoods.  For when you come into their midst, attune to their energy vibration, you change; rather your sense of individuality begins to fade and you become the redwood, feel its stillness, power and grace.  If you surrender, a seismic humility overwhelms the turbulence of the mind, shaking the nonsensical detritus of technological immersion, societal chaos and meaningless thought addiction from you.

The coastal redwoods draw one to the source energy, reverberating a timelessness. Mantra-like, potent chants echo from them. Listen to their silence and you will here:

“Home, Home, Aum, Om…”.

One cannot help but be affected by the stillness of a redwood forest. And the forest does not impose itself on you, yet the wild mind naturally quiets when we spend time in such a forest, though at first thoughts might seem even more turbulent. We are being emptied from the inside out.

Conditioned patterns and cultural insanity cannot continue as it normally does. A growing awareness builds, we become more conscious the longer we reside and attune to the forest. No one leaves unchanged. An inner shift is unavoidable. Sprouts have bloomed within; a gift is seeded by these illustrious illuminators…

A few years back my wife and I were exhausted after our ten hour drive up the Highway 1 coast, from Santa Cruz, over the Golden Gate Bridge, through Stinson Beach and the Point Reyes Coast, all the way past Fort Bragg and back up onto highway 101, arriving at Richardson Grove among the Giant redwoods as sunset approached.

Peace, true sanity was reflected for at least a few minutes as we drove through the forest. This peace grew, as we set up camp and picnicked among the giant groves. We spent a couple of days camping. One day, a man, Tommy J, whom we met at the visitor’s center, was planning on spending the entire summer in the park with his entire family, volunteering. They stopped at Richardson Grove after traveling throughout the United States for months. When they arrived at Richardson Grove and first set eyes and heart on the ancient redwoods, they looked at each other, husband and wife, and said:

“This is it!” The kids 5 and 7 agreed. One can only imagine what incredible vibration this family absorbed during their summer respite!

Tommy J. already carried a deep peace when we met, after only a couple of weeks in the park.

That peace is our true nature, sparkling up from within, brought out by the redwoods much like sitting before a spiritual Master, harmonizing with the ocean surf, or witnessing the first rays of the sun coming up through the forest umbrella. To rest in and imbibe an old growth redwood forest is to have one’s life unalterably changed at the foundational source.

Richardson Grove, however, like many California redwood forests was in grave danger, not entirely from environmental changes related to global warming, like less fog, inadequate rain or a shifting ecosystem. The California Department of Transportation had envisioned a widening of State Highway 101, which was currently a single lane on both sides through this small State Park. Caltran’s idea was to make it possible for larger, commercial trucks to pass through. This plan called for a clearance of dozens of ancient, old growth redwoods that line the highway edges. This proposal would not only destroy many ancient trees but increase highway speed, amounting to more accidents, along with increased human and wildlife deaths. In a rare victory the plan was halted, at least for now.

Many people in our fast paced Age are lost in a haze of worldliness. Here are these beautiful trees calling to them..’but no thanks, not interested’, they seem to say, whizzing by. ‘We are just trying to get from point A to point B as quick as possible…’

As we nestled into our forest home, my wife and me, were captivated by our site’s centerpiece- a 300 foot grandmother redwood. She cast her gaze upon us. Both of us shed tears of gratitude and felt the exhaustion lifting. We arrived at a sublime place, one which we recognize as our natural state.

The return to vitality happens quickly. Both my wife and I felt like newborn birds fed morsels of food direct from our grandmother’s bark after a couple of days. The redwood forest environment did what nothing else can.  It soothes the heartache from a death, the anxiety of our high-speed, modern world and eases every conceivable existential crisis imaginable.

Some how these trees pull off the impossible, restoring equilibrium and equanimity to a shattered sense of self, returning one to the natural vibration of peace. I have no doubt that putting someone in redwood grove, with simple wholesome food, no tech distraction or interference, and each person would become more whole, feel better at the soul level.

Early mornings in a redwood forest are one of the greatest joys of my life. Even a once bustling campground is silent. We, my wife and I, did not plan on coming here. Originally our course was set for the northern edge of the great redwood coastal forests which stretch from the central California coast northward for 300 miles from Big Basin State Park to Jedidiah Smith State Park- encompassing dozens of State Parks, open space preserves, and wildlife refuges.

As I sat, writing this, my back was almost touching our ancient, adopted grandmother- redwood’s base. She refueled me, catalyzing my pen into motion at this holy-natural, spiritual-charging station.

My wife later told me that at about the time I wrote the above words, she was just waking up in the tent, and was attuned to a small bird song which ‘sounded of heaven’ and was ‘pure bliss’.

For the birds and all nature are ONE, in perfect harmony in this pristine forest.

The coastal redwoods, gigantic mirrors that reflect inseparability, the oneness of life. They remind us we are not part of the forest but the forest itself, all of us inextricably linked. In truth, the forest is inside of us- it is spacious and vast.

The redwoods show us that all we need is right here.