What's it like when you got your mojo workin'?

[OkKeith]

Lisa and I were practicing the other day out to 20 yards. We got to talking about what it really feels like when we are doing everything right. What is our mind doing when we are really ON.

In the instant between when my brain says RELEASE and my fingers get the message, I simply "know" when a shot is tightly on target. When I am concentrating correctly and pick a spot, everything around that spot blurs and the spot is crystal clear. The arrow seems to fly down a tunnel and hit where I’m looking. The trick for me is to look at a very precise spot.

Lisa says that for her, it's the mental equivalent of driving down a rutted dirt road and the wheels jump into the ruts. Think in the ruts, stay in the ruts, and shoot a good arrow. Do everything the same way every time. Push hard, pull hard, all the way through the release.

One of my best buddies says everything goes blank and he never remembers releasing the arrow until it's on its way (when things are working right). My other buddy has no idea how it works. He picks a spot and just shoots it.

How do things feel or look when YOU got your mojo workin'?

OkKeith

[Spectre]

You ever hit a crisp golf shot? Thats what it feels like for me.

[OkKeith]

Jeff,

I am much better at archery than I am at golf. I would hate to compare my game to my bow hunting.

I played baseball all my young life and a year or two in college. So I think I can understand where you’re coming from though. Sometimes you hear the ball come off the bat and feel just the right amount of sharpness in your hands. You just KNOW you can make a slow jog around the base pads.

Can you call that feeling into play when you shoot your bow, or is it a serendipitous type of thing?

OkKeith

[S.C. Hunter]

I am sort of like your buddy in the sense that when I shoot my absolute best,I can't tell you exactly how it happens. I look and shoot no thought. When I start trying to make it happen.I think to much and get in my way. If I go to a 3-D shoot I almost always start out well because I look and shoot. If I ever start thinking about where I held for the last good shot and try to repeat it I am done for that target at least. I practice in front of a bale for technique and form. I shoot when I let it happen.

[Ravenhood]

Feels  like I cant miss.Cant wait to shoot.

[njloco]

I guess being on is different for each person. For me it's when I release, and all I can see is the feathers spiraling away dead straight to where my spot is and the release is very smooth, and I can repeat it by hitting close to the same spot.

[swampdrummer]

I asked a very simular question earlier this year and got a bunch of good answers.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=090938

[njloco]

I read some of those answers from your previous post, I think the tunnel vision is the most descriptive of the answers, at least for me it is.

[OkKeith]

I was visiting with my Dad about this yesterday. His take on it is, that if you have to think about it, ya need more practice.

Of course he has always been an amazingly instictive shooter (I will admit to some bias, he is my Dad after all).

When I was a kid and learning to shoot a bow, he would always say, "See the target, shoot the target, hit the target. That simple."

Seems like one common thing for all of us is, we just know when it's gonna be a good arrow.

OkKeith

[canshooter]

Happened for me on the weekend, It was like I was in a trance. There was no conscious thought involved. I was shooting at 40 yards and for half a dozen ends I was shooting groups of 10 that were 6-7 inches in diameter. Its rare and you cant force it to happen but its magic when it does.

[Storkfish1]

I've only been shooting for about 3 months now but I'm starting to recognize before the arrow has left my bow if I'm "ON". At this point I'm "OFF" more than on but I'm definately getting a feel for it.

[BobCo 1965]

Personally, I am a little the opposite of you. My better shots happen when my brain is not saying release but when the release happens in the subconscious.

My better shots also happen when I am not over aiming, rather just letting the bow settle on the target instead of forcing it. Other than that good shots happen when I have a sense of balance in the core during teh follow through and am not jerked one way or the other.

[Bobaru]

On baseball.  We've all watched the World Series on TV and seen a batter get up in a "do or die" situation.  On occasion I've been able to say "that ball's going out of the park" before the pitch - because there is something majic about being in the "zone."  ...  Same can be said for Mike Jorden with a basketball.

NBC did an experiment in which they had people hooked up for brain activity.  The people who put themselves in the "zone" were the ones whose brain activity stopped in all but one specific portion of the brain just prior to the golf shot.  The people who blew the shot had brain activity throughout their brains, more so than at rest, when they took their shots.  What this says is the brain was not able to focus and the shooters could not concentrate on the one essential task.

So, it's more Zen than one might have thought.

[OkKeith]

I read a study once. Three groups of people were tested on how many free-throw basketball shots they could make out of one-hundred.

First group: Allowed to practice for one hour a day for a period of time before the test.

Second group: Asked to visualize the process of shooting and making the basket over and over for an hour each day. Same period of time before the test.

Third group: Cold "off the street" and tested.

Results? The third group made the lowest score by far. The "practice" group made the highest score. The "visualize" group made only a few less than the practice group on average. Nearly no significant statistical difference!

If you feel comfortable comparing the repeatable form demands, mental focus and physical ability required to shoot a good free throw and required to shoot a good arrow from a traditional bow, this shows just how much of a mental exercise we are attempting.

I go to sleep every night, center punching tiny dots on a target in my mind. Aim small in your mind, miss small on the target.

OkKeith

[beetlebailey1977]

When I get in the zone I know where the arrow is hitting before it gets there....It is like second nature to me.  Also when I miss I know where it is going.