Walking Meditation

Is it possible to do meditation while walking? Yes, it is. I regularly do it several times a week around a track and field some 250 meters from my house. It is a beautiful place for doing walking meditation because it is located near rainforest that constantly supplies fresh air to anyone living near it. I walk from around 15:00 to 16:00. People begin arriving at the field at 15:45. So, there are fewer people in the track and field during the time. When I do walking meditation, I contemplate about my life, what plan to do or what mistakes I have done. All these things are reviewed during the walking meditation. While I meditate about my personal life, I stay connected with my surrounding environment. 

Walking Along the Sides of a River

I guide tourists to various places in West Papua. Sometimes, when I travel to the mountains, to the islands or coastal areas, I can have time to do the walking meditation. In this environment, I feel very close to nature. My favorite place for doing walking meditation is along the sides of a river or a long a beach. I can hear the sounds of birds, and water that flows in the river. 

Tourists whom I guide like this riverwalk tour very much. There are various kinds of flower plants that we can see during the trip. Insects such as dragonfly, butterflies, beetles, cicadas, water insects also present in the river environment. 

Riverwalk Tour in West Papua

The benefits of walking meditation are not only on creating healthy body, a feeling of relax in my mind buy also helping me to generate new ideas for articles that I will write in this blog. 

Also read:

• Health Benefits of Regular Walking Exercises
• Sunbathing on Track and Field
• Hiking Tour in Sorong

Moonwatching

I have been doing moonwatching for two consecutive nights now. I use a pair of binoculars and a spotting scope that I installed on a tripod. Actually I do this as part of my moonbathing activity. When people pass by, they can watch the moon through the scope. 

Moon Watching in Manokwari

Children and adults who never watch the moon through a spotting scope were surprised to see the detailed terrains and numerous craters on the moon. Moon  constantly moving from east to west so I have to adjust my spotting scope to follow its trajectory.

In yin & yang philosophy, moon is considered as yin. Its light can make us feel calm and relaxed. 

I work as a tourist guide. I often accompany visitors on a camping and wildlife watching tour in the forest of West Papua. We spend a few nights in the forest to watch paradise birds, butterflies and other insects as well as other wild animals that we may encounter while walking through the big and small trees of the forest. 

Cuscus Possum in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari

We also do night walk to find cuscus possum, and forest dragon lizard. When there is a full moon in the sky, it is quite difficult to find the cuscus possum. Our chance to see cuscus possum is much higher when there is no moon in the sky. 

I also heard that if fishermen catch crab in tidal mangrove forest during the full moon, the crabs will not have a lot of meat. Well, this is something debatable.

Sunbathing on Track and Field

I do walking exercise several times a week. There is a football field around 250 meters from my house. It is located behind an army base. This track and field is near rainforest providing a calm environment for anyone who wants to enjoy exercise and see the green scenery of the surrounding. 

I start my walking exercise in the afternoon at 15:00. It is usually sunny. The temperature is hot even for people who live in this tropical environment. For me, I like doing walking exercise from 15:00 to 16:00 because there are fewer people in the track and field. I could enjoy walking, sunbathing and breathing fresh air that is produced by the nearby rainforest.

Sunbathing while doing exercise is actually good for our health. Our body releases sweat that protects our skin from harmful light. So, I don't apply sunblock lotion while doing walking exercise. 

Because the football field is close to rainforest, we often can see butterflies flying across the field or hear the calls of birds.

Track and Field near rainforest

Every time I go there to do my walking exercise, I see other people who also do athletics. Athletes and ordinary people are mixed in the field. They play football, volleyball, long jump. Most of them like jogging. Local athletes do their exercises in this field as their preparation for their participation in national and international sports competition. 

People were enjoying sports

The football field and its surrounding track belongs to the army but they provide them for the public to use. There is a shooting field next to the track and field. The shooting field has got a hall with high concrete walls protect the shooting area from outsiders. Sometimes soldiers do their shooting exercise there. We can hear the loud explosions of assault rifles and pistols during the exercise.  It is safe for people to do their athletic exercises while the soldiers do their shooting exercises.

Most people who like sunbathing usually do it at the beach. The beach environment provides a relaxed atmosphere for them.

Moonbathing

I went out of my house last night. I did not go far. I only stood at the frontyard. There was half moon in the black sky decorated with thousands of visible stars. I looked up to the moon. With my eyes staring at the moon, I took deep breath several times understanding in my mind that I was absorbing the light energy of the moon - the yin energy. 

Near full moon

I tried to take pictures of the moon using my cell phone but the result was not good enough. I went into my house again to get my pocket camera, it is a Nikon AW130. I used it to take some pictures of the moon. Still the result was not sharp enough. Well, I should use better camera later. 

Because my main intention was to enjoy moonbathing, I decided to do it by standing towards the moon for a few minutes to be more exposed to its light.

Earlier than that, during the day, I showered in the rain. This time at night, I was moon-bathing. This may sound weird but in Chinese philosophy having a balanced yin & yang energy in our body is important for our health. Well, that's what I have done in the last few days since Sunday. 

Going to the beach to enjoy the scenery of the sea, and its waves while doing meditation on the white sand, walking around the football field under bright sunlight, getting drenched under heavy rain and moonbathing is my way of getting exposed to a balanced yin and yang energy.

The result? 

Well, I can sleep early and well at night. I could not do it for years. I always fell asleep late at around 04.30 morning. 

Tonight, moon will be bigger. I hope I can stay longer to absorb its moonlight energy. Most people do sunbathing but do they also do moon bathing? This is something, you may consider doing in order to balance your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. You could try if you are interested. 

Moon and Environment

Moon plays important role in our environment. For example, the sea tides are influenced by the gravity of the moon. When I was a university student tens of years ago, I saw how villagers caught fish by taking advantage of high and low tide. There was a small bay at the coastal area of their village. When the tide was high, they let the fish entered the bay. They know the time when the tide would go down again. So, during the peak time of the tide, they deployed net to close the bay. The net has big holes to let small fish to pass through. When the tide was receding, big fish swam to deeper water but later they were trapped in the net. With this technique, the villagers did not have to go to the open sea to catch big fish. It was an environmentaly friendly way to catch fish. They let small fish return to the sea. 

My father is a farmer. When I was a kid, he collected the sap of aren tree that is consumed by us as traditional drinks. Thr sweet sap of aren palm tree can be 'cooked' to make palm sugar. So, when there is high tide, the level of water in land is also higher and it allows plants to absorb more water. So, during full moon period, my father can collect more palm sap. To make sweet palm sap, we need to wash the container that we use to collect the palm sap so it does not contain natural yeast. If not the palm sap will not be sweet. Mothers drink sweet palm sap which we call saguer to increase their milk for breastfeeding their babies. These are simple examples of how moon play important contribution to environment and human life. 

Also read: Moonwatching

Showering in the Rain

This afternoon I walked out of my house to enjoy showering in the rain. The water that fell from the sky landed on my head and body. But I did not go out directly when it started to rain. I waited for around 15 minutes for the rain to clean the atmosphere from smog, and tiny toxic particles that were flying in the air. When all the airborn particles had been taken down by the rainwater, I went out to enjoy bathing in the rain. 

It is not something that I enjoy doing every time the rain comes. I did it some times when I was a kid. Showering in the rain is a nice experience. I cannot explain the health benefits of rain water to my body. One thing that I know is that when I enjoy showering in the rain, I do something different from my daily routine. I don't do it every day. 

It is one of the many ways to relieve stress. Doing recreational activities such as going to the beach, trekking in the mountains or enjoy swimming in a lake are ways to relieve stress. But showering in the rain is one of the cheapest ways to do it. 

How rain is formed

Rain actually is the precipitation of atmospheric water. During the day, light from the sun hit the surface of the sea, lakes, ponds, plants and everything on Earth that has water. The energy from the sun turn the water into gas. Water evaporates. Because water vapor is gas, it is light. It goes up to the sky or atmosphere. 

As it goes higher, it reaches an elevation where the temperature is low. There the vapor turns into tiny water droplets. This process is called condensation. The tiny droplets gather to form clouds. From time to time they become heavy and cannot stay any longer in the sky. 

Pulled by the gravity of the Earth, the water droplets later fall again to the earth in the form of rain, drizzle, snow or hail. 

Rain water is very important for our environment. It resupply water to plants and animals both in the forest, in the lakes and rivers, in the farmlands. Rainwater cleans rivers. It cleans our atmosphere by taking down dust, smog, and any dirt from the atmosphere creating cleaner air that is vital for any living things. Cleaner air is needed by airplanes to travel to any directions, it also ensure better communication. Usually after heavy rain in a big city, the air is cleaner again. 

Working in Outdoor Environment

I work as a tourist guide escorting or accompanying visitors in outdoor environment. Most of my activities are related to hiking in the forest for wildlife watching, birdwatching; or swimming and snorkeling over coral reef to see colorful tropical marine plants and animals in the sea. 

I was watching birds with some British tourists

My job is fun. I can see beautiful tropical birds, flowers, butterflies, and breathe fresh air. Walking in outdoor environment, I consider it as a physical exercise and that at the same time as a way to refresh my mind and emotional well being. 

Living in the city, we are often trapped in uncomfortable environment such as traffic jam, noisy sounds of machine tools from construction sites, cars, and engines in factories. We are also exposed to air pollution. 

Going to natural places such as to the beach, to the mountains, lakes and forest is one of the ways to relieve stress and anxiety.

But sometimes it turns out to be a challenging profession if the terrains are more difficult or the weather is bad. For instance, if I guide tourists inside the lowland and montane forest, I and my guests have to deal with a lot of mosquitoes, and other tiny insects that like to bite our skins. Applying anti insect lotion may be a good solution.

I always try to see things from several different perspectives. For instance, if I experience bad weather in the forest, I don't complain. Heavy rain may not be good for me and my clients who are doing birdwatching along the edge of a forest. But it is the nature's way to water plants and provide water to animals and human being. Rain takes down all dust, and every tiny and toxic particles from our atmosphere. Rain cleans the air. With the clear weather, airplanes can travel safely again to their destinations.

My job as a tourist guide in outdoor environment, allows me to understand nature and give more appreciation to its unique functions in our life. This is written by Charles Roring.

The Sounds of Nature

When we go to the beach, we can hear the sounds of waves, and feel the breeze on our skin, hair and ears. The wind that passes through trees can push branches and leaves to move and generate sounds. 

The sounds of nature can also be heard when we are in the forest. The water stream that flows through the stones can generate sounds. In the mornings and in the afternoons, birds play and sing. 

These sounds of nature are not melodic like man made music that uses modern electronic keyboard, and electric guitar but they can remind us about the importance of connecting our spiritual and physical body with nature.

The sounds of nature such as the eruption of a volcano, the  crashing thunder can be scary too but they teach us about how powerful our nature can be. 

We may feel refreshed in our mind and body when we go to the beach, the forest or other natural places. People who do meditation can get inner peace if they sometimes do it in open nature. So, the beauty of nature can be considered as medicine for our spiritual well being.

In the above video, we can see waves from the sea that reach the beach. These waves are generated by wind and sea tide. Wind itself is caused by the differences in air pressure. These differences are caused by differences in temperature. And most of the temperatures on the surface of the sea are influenced by the sun. 

The sea tide itself is not independent. It is influenced by the gravity of moon. 

So, everything in this universe is inter-connected. Understanding and appreciating this interconnection of the universe will allow us to have more balanced life. Having a balanced life is good for our health. In eastern or Chinese philosophy, there is a term called yin and yang. Well, I may discuss more about it in my later post. 

Digital Art of Paradise Birds

When I guide visitors to rainforests of West Papua to watch birds of paradise, I take some pictures of those avaifaunas. Later they become important references for my digital art works. I can draw manually using conventional media, colored pencils on paper and digitally using vector illustration software or digital drawing apps. Some of them can be seen below:

Digital Drawing of Red Bird of Paradise

The above male Red Bird of Paradise lives in tropical rainforest of Waigeo island. It has become a very important target of observation for birding visitors who travel to Raja Ampat islands of Indonesia.

Vector Drawing of Lesser Birds of Paradise

Another important target of observation among birdwatching visitors is Lesser Birds of Paradise. This bird species lives in tropical forest of New Guinea (the provinces of Papua and Papua Barat as well as the independent state of PNG). Lesser Birds of Paradise live in lowland and lower montane forest of New Guinea. Unfortunately, because of their beautiful feather, they are often hunted by local people.

I create digital artworks of these birds to raise awareness of all nature lovers about the importance of protecting these wild animals especially the paradise birds. Their natural habitat is tropical rainforest. They don't belong to cages in the houses of wealthy people. Birds are guardians of rainforest. They eat fruits and disperse seeds to all corners of the forest. They eat insects to help control the population of the insects whose larvae eat leaves or wood of trees.

In West Papua, there are a number of rainforest areas where tourists can visit to watch birds of paradise and other tropical birds. Some of them include Wondama regency, Susnguakti forest of Manokwari, Mount Soyti in Arfak range, Tambrauw mountains, Klasow valley and Waigeo island of Raja Ampat. 

Wondama regency is located in Cendrawasih Bay, it has got a lot of islands. Visitors can enjoy birding in the forests of mainland as well as in the islands. Because there are coral reef with abundant fish, visitors can also enjoy swimming and snorkeling. For wildlife watching gear, tourists usually bring binoculars; camera; laser pointer; and spotting scopes. 

In addition to drawing birds, I also draw fish, flowers, butterflies, human figure and any interesting subjects that I see in nature. All these digital art drawings can be seen in my redbubble artshop at this link: Nature Art Shop. The manual paintings and digital drawings can be printed on mugs, t-shirts, mugs, stickers, tote bags, spiral notebooks and etc. They are offered in affordable prices and can be bought through the online shop. 

Rainforest in West Papua as Tourist Attractions

Tropical rain forest in West Papua is a very rich environment. It is the natural habitat of thousands of species of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles as well as plants. It attracts the attention of tourists, nature lovers, students, and researchers to visit it and see its wealth of plants and animals. Rainforest has now become an interesting tourist attractions. 

Mangrove forest in Wondama regency

The kind of tourism that I mean here is an alternative tourism. It is not a mass tourism. For instance, based on my experience, the average number of visitors per group is between 2 and 8. They travel from Europe, North America, Australia, India, China to watch birds, mammals, reptiles; and see unique plants in the forest. There are other tourists who are interested in insects or only butterflies.

Lower Montane Forest in Wondama regency

There are also tourists who want to see types of rainforest based on their elevations measured from sea level such as Mangrove forest and lowland forest, to lower montane and higher montane or cloud forest. 

There are a few destinations in West Papua province of Indonesia which have such ecosystems. One of them is Wondama regency. It has got almost complete rainforest ecosystems. The regency has got islands, coastal area, hills, and mountains that are covered by pristine rainforest. 

The regency of Wondama has got a lot of islands that are covered by rainforest. They can also be visited by tourists. Coral reef in the waters of these islands are the natural habitat of various species of marine animals and plants. After exploring the wealth of biodiversity of the islands, visitors can enjoy swimming and snorkeling to see the marine life in coral reef of Wondama. Coral reef is sometimes called by people as the rainforest of the ocean. And we need to preserve it too.

Tropical rainforest of West Papua is unique because it is the natural habitat of various species of marsupial animals. Some of them include cuscus possum, bandicoot, and wallaby. Most of them are nocturnal animals and can be seen when we do night walk in the jungle.

If you are interested in taking a tour to rainforest to see its plants and animals, you could contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to +6281332245180.

Long-tailed Paradigala

Long-tailed Paradigala is a species of birds of paradise that lives in tropical rainforest of West Papua. It is an endemic bird of Arfak mountains. I saw it when I guided two American birdwatchers on a 2 week birding and snorkeling tour from Raja Ampat to Manokwari. We did not have plan to find the bird because he does not have a fixed display tree. 

Long-tailed Paradigala

One early morning time in Arfak mountains, I and Paige (one of the tour participants) went hiking to the dancing ground of Western Parotia (Parotia sefilata). We started at around 05.00 a.m. when it was still dark. The slopes were steep so we walked slowly and stopped several times on the way. Around forty five minutes later, we arrived. A red pandanus fruit had already been placed just outside the dancing ground of Western Parotia to attract the bird to come. 

Shortly after we sat on our "bench" which was actually a fallen log, we saw that some birds began to land on the fruits. There were female Black Sicklebills, female Vogelkop Superb Bird of Paradise and Western Parotia. They took turn in occupying the red fruit to have their breakfast. 

Suddenly, a Long-tailed Paradigala landed. I was surprised to see it. I had not seen the bird during my previous trips to Arfak mountains. Now the bird of paradise was just around four meters from me. I immediately aimed my camera at the bird and and took some pictures of him. After getting his fair share of the red grains as his breakfast, he flew away. 

That morning, we saw the Western Parotia dancing on the ground. There were also Green-backed Robin, Black-eared Catbird and Blue Gray Robin, Vogelkop Melidectes, Western Smoky Honeyeater, and Spectacled Longbill that we saw during our walk back to the guesthouse.

We were happy with the morning walk because we could see birds that are endemic to Arfak mountains. This was written by Charles Roring.

Logo Burung Cendrawasih Merah

Ini adalah logo burung Cendrawasih Merah yang saya buat dengan posisi kepala menghadap ke bawah (lihat ilustrasi dijital ke - 2). 

Kalau kita pergi ke Pulau Waigeo di Raja Ampat, untuk menonton burung Cendrawasih Merah berdansa, kita akan mendapati posisi alami saat sang jantan berdansa adalah dengan kepala yang menghadap ke bawah.  Gambar ini saya buat sketsa manualnya menggunakan pensil di kertas, setelah itu saya gambar lagi menggunakan stylus memakai Autodesk Sketchup.

Gambar Burung Cendrawasih Jantan sedang berdansa

Oleh karena itu, logo yang saya buat ini, posisi kepalanya menghadap ke bawah. Saya membuatnya menggunakan software vektor inkscape. 

Logo Burung Cendrawasih

Nama ilmiah burung Cendrawasih Merah adalah Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra). Burung ini spesies endemik Raja Ampat dan bisa dijumpai di Waigeo, Gam, kemungkinan juga Pulau Mansuar, Batanta. 

Foto Burung Cendrawasih

Saya memiliki banyak sekali foto burung Cendrawasih Kuning Kecil/ Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor). Foto-foto tersebut saya buat ketika memandu wisatawan di dalam hutan hujan tropis Papua Barat. Burung ini indah sekali warnanya sehingga menjadi target pengamatan yang utama di kalangan para wisatawan pengamat burung baik di dalam dan luar negeri. 

Lesser Birds of Paradise

Untuk menontonnya, kami harus bangun pagi sekali dan pergi ke pohon tempat biasanya burung surga ini berkumpul untuk berdansa dan kawin. Cendrawasih Kuning Kecil hidup di dataran rendah dan hutan perbukitan di Tanah Papua. Burung ini suka berdansa di pagi dan sore hari. 

Lokasi burung berdansa biasanya terletak lebih ke dalam hutan. Di Manokwari, saya suka mengantar wisatawan ke hutan Susnguakti yang terletak di kawasan pegunungan rendah dari Pegunungan Arfak. Di Kabupaten Tambrauw dan Teluk Wondama serta Sorong, Burung Cendrawasih dapat pula diamati. Wisatawan perlu berjalan kaki ke lokasi pohon tempat burung surga ini biasa berkumpul.

Burung Cendrawasih dan burung-burung tropis Papua lainnya memakan buah dan menyebar biji-bijiannya ke seluruh penjuru hutan. Ini artinya, burung Cendrawasih bermanfaat dalam melestarikan hutan tropis.

Cendrawasih Jantan dan Betina

Perkembangan penduduk, pembangunan jalan, gedung perkantoran serta perumahan telah mengakibatkan luasan hutan hujan tropis Papua, yang adalah habitat alami dari burung Cendrawasih, semakin berkurang. Hal ini diperparah lagi oleh masih adanya perburuan satwa burung cendrawasih di Tanah Papua. Akibat dari semua ini, populasi Cendrawasih juga ikut terancam.

Apa yang bisa kita lakukan untuk menjaga kelestarian burung Cendrawasih?

• Tidak membeli burung Cendrawasih baik yang masih hidup atau yang sudah diawetkan.
• Tidak ikut merusak hutan hujan tropis Papua
• Memperkenalkan satwa Cendrawasih ini kepada sesama kita agar mereka ikut peduli.

Cendrawasih Jantan

Saya juga suka menggambar burung-burung surga baik secara manual menggunakan pensil warna dan kertas, maupun secara digital menggunakan gambar vektor inkscape dan bitmap seperti Adobe Autodesk Sketchbook. Gambar-gambar itu selanjutnya saya upload ke situs Redbubble untuk kemudian bisa dibeli cetakannya oleh pembaca dalam bentuk mug, t-shirt, tas, sarung bantal, dan lain sebagainya. Pembaca bisa melihatnya di link berikut:

• Bird of Paradise drawing
• Paradise Birds in Watercolour

Baca juga artikel berikut:

• Cendrawasih Kuning Kecil
• Burung-burung Surga

Manta Postcards

I have just received emails from Redbubble which says that somebody just bought postcards with my drawing of mantas. I don't know who bought it but I would like to say thank you. I am happy if people appreciate or buy artworks that I create and upload to my Redbubble pages. 

Freediving with manta

I created the manta drawing a few years ago using Derwent watercolour pencils. I drew the fish and a lady who was freediving to get closer to mantas. Well this was not an imaginary picture. It was an experience of mine when guiding tourists in Raja Ampat islands. I guided some European tourists on 1 week snorkeling trip across the beautiful archipelago. The presence of a lady swimming towards manta is a good comparison for us to see how big the giant fish is. 

Vector illustration of Swimming with Manta

When we were at Manta Point one early morning time, we saw a group of mantas moving around in the water in circle formations. To get closer to the fish, we freedived to a depth of 5 to 7 meters. Because there were no scubadivers at that time, we could enjoy the show for quite long. After that we continued our tour to Piaynemo karst. I recreated the manual drawing in the first picture above into some digital versions using vector drawing software: inkscape hoping that with more choices more people will be interested in buying artwork that printed in various functional products like t-shirts, mugs, bags, laptop skin, smartphone skins, pencil skirt, pillow, anti-covid virus masks. To my surprise, people bought more of my manual drawings instead on the digital ones. 

After finishing the tour, I returned home with ideas of creating a number of drawings inspired from the marine creatures that I saw in Raja Ampat. 

If you are interested in seeing them, please, have a look at my art page at this link: Art Inspired from Nature.