Part 1 Presence and Consciousness Archery and Bowhunting
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Imagine this – You are shooting your bow in a competition. Either outdoor 3d or indoor tournament. You drawback and everything is in slow motion. You realize this state of mind and go with it. It feels good – you are able to block out all other distractions. You settle your pins on the target. Completely solid with very little movement. Your body works in a fluid motion, and you already know what’s going to happen. The shot is released and the arrow sinks into the target exactly where it needs to be.
What I want to explore is the mental state you were in. There are a few things it may be called. Presence, complete consciousness, awareness, and flow state might be some of them. This is a moment of complete focus and time doesn’t seem to matter – everything is in slow motion. You are able to see things so clear and pick out the exact tiny black shadow or light spec on the target and aim for it. Everything is clear!This state of presence is what competition archers know so well and to some degree is also what so many successful bowhunters get into when the right moment comes by. This presence and awareness allow you to flow through the situation without a worry about what is going to happen next. All you know is what is happening now and flowing with it. It’s almost as if you have visualized this before because you are so confident about what will happen next (even if you are not sure what is about to happen like in a bowhunting situation). It just feels right.To fully understand I go to the opposite experience. You are standing at the line ready to shoot either 3D competition or indoor target competition. Your heart is racing – not completely out of the ordinary – and you feel this pressure of making the shot. Then your mind goes to how you will feel when you miss the mark you are hoping to hit. Your mind goes to the feelings you have when you miss your mark of disappointment and maybe even have someone there to jokingly tease you a bit about the miss. You take personally. All these thoughts happen before you actually shoot. Then you draw back, aim and cannot completely settle before releasing a rushed shot. It feels forced. The outcome is exactly your vision / your feelings prior to the shot.You were not completely present or in that flow state, you hoped for in the second scenario. This flow state is why I think I like archery and bowhunting so much. Shooting my bow gets me into this state of presence and consciousness. As archers, we know of practice sessions when we are not completely present. You can feel it. Being present allows your mind to connect to your body’s physical muscles to draw and hold and then your eyes to see the sights and the target for the mind to then send signals to your body to adjust in order to send the arrow where you want it. THIS is where I think so many archers get into trouble. I am no expert and this is only my experience. As I write this, I am learning and exploring new things when it comes to how the physical body and mind both conscious and unconscious interact to perform. I have always felt something different when my practice and recreational tournaments are going well compared to the times when they just don’t go as well. I think understanding this will overcome some of the struggles bowhunters face when encountered with that moment of truth, like target panic, buck fever, blackout, rushed shots, forced shots. Again I am only speaking from my 25+ years of shooting archery and bowhunting, these are my thoughts and learnings along the way…Stay tuned for more… |
