Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The sounds of stillness

Hello, All.

Wow! So much has happened since I last blogged. I was looking through the archive of my past blog posts and the last blog that I wrote was in late March after my birthday. It's rather synchronous that I went hiking yesterday on a wonderful and lovely trail at Redwood Regional Park in the East Bay. It was the same trail that I hiked on during my birthday hike with friends. Yesterday was only the second time that I have hiked on that trail. It was a much needed hike for me. I have been really craving peace and stillness. I can and do create this peace and stillness within myself when I'm meditating, practicing yoga, gardening, or sitting near my plants in my backyard garden. That stillness is so important for me. External stillness and peace is a core need of mine. I do love the Bay Area, yet I do feel that I need to be very intentional about carving and co-creating a time and space to be in nature to receive the external peace and stillness that I need.

It was really amazing yesterday to be on a trail amongst the Redwoods. The second or third generation of Redwoods. All of the forest in a 5 mile radius where once old growth Redwoods had thrived for thousands of years were all clear-cut in the 1840-60's. I stopped by a gigantic stump of an old growth Redwood along the stream trail. I put my hand on the stump and thought about what an amazingly beautiful tree it must have been. Redwoods are one of my favorite trees. While I do enjoy hiking and being amidst them to rejuvenate myself, I do feel a tinge of sadness and also a bit of anger that most of the old growth Redwoods have been logged. The anger sometimes rises up when I'm driving and in front of my car is a truck with Redwoods on the flatbed of the truck. Mostly it just makes me sad.

I thought about this as I walked along the stream trail before hiking up onto the french/mill trail that wound up into the forest. I walked with ease and intentionally. Enjoying the fresh air, the ferns, the second or third generation Redwoods. Imagining and envisioning the history of the landscape itself. I thought about the contemporary artist, Andy Goldsworthy and his relationship to landscape and the elements; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water in his work. I re-watched the beautiful and wonderful documentary, RIVERS AND TIDES a couple of months ago. I first watched this documentary when I was a student at UC Santa Cruz, focusing on my undergraduate education. I haven't seen the entire documentary in years. A chapter or two was shown in one of my experimental documentary classes taught by the fabulous professor, Greta Snider at SF State. One lesson that I got from watching RIVERS AND TIDES recently was that Andy Goldsworthy really looks, feels, and attunes to the landscape where he works. He reflected on the layers of history; the people and live-stock that have shaped the land. This is especially true of his work in his Native Scotland. He said that the sheep have had just as much of an impact as people have had on the landscape. That you can't just see the landscape without thinking about the relationship of the sheep to the land. As well as people and sheep to the landscape. He created a sculpture of sheep wool wound around a stone fence and other work. To reflect these relationships of humans, sheep, and landscape. I contemplated this. Since re-watching that documentary I've really been thinking more about the history of landscapes.

I stopped on the trail and I heard stillness. The slight breeze, some trees gently swaying, and mostly the stillness of the forest. This trail hardly had any people on it in comparison to one of my favorite trails at Joaquin Miller State Park in the Oakland hills that also has beautiful Redwood trees. I stopped to hear the stillness and I thought to myself; peace. External peace. Here I am in the forest and the only sounds I'm hearing are that of nature. I would like to live like this everyday and also retain connection to a queer/trans community and the art, cultural, and culinary highlights of living in an urban area. Peace. Stillness. Being-ness. How lovely. Ah, the fresh air. Then I heard a plane or two above me. I continued on the trail. Enjoying the ambiance of the forest and the healing elements of nature.

Thank you for reading.

Ewan

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