Breathing question

[madness522]

I have noticed that I have started holding my breath about half way thru the draw and not letting it out until the arrow is well on the way to the targer.  When I leared how to shoot a rifle I was taught to take a big breath, not a deep breath, and let half out before pulling the trigger.  A reason being one less thing that is moving and another it helps to hold the cross hairs steady especially for longer shots.  I never noticed I was doing the same thing shooting an arrow.  

Is there a right way or a method of breath control that in essence does the same thing shooting a bow? Am I already doing it subconsciously the right way?

[McDave]

I think the answer depends on how you shoot the bow.  If you hold at full draw, particularly if you use an aiming system, like sights, gap, or string walking, then I think whatever breathing system works for you in shooting a rifle would work well for you in archery.

On the other hand, if you shoot instinctively, perhaps with a swing draw, where you release the arrow as soon as you come to full draw and anchor, I don't think the way you breathe is significant, any more so than it would be for a shortstop fielding a baseball and throwing out a runner at first base.  There's just too much movement going on to where the small amount of additional stability gained by controlled breathing would matter.  Or stated another way, diminishing your focus on the things that matter in instinctive shooting in order to allow some of your focus to be on breathing would probably have a net negative result (maybe).  Or stated yet another way, it is instinctive, so do whatever works!

[jmar595]

I read "Zen in the art of archery" wher the author went to Japan to study. One of the first lessons, if not the first, was proper breathing. They stayed on that lesson for a long while before moving on to release. Each lesson was focused on a particular task, breathing, drawing, releasing, and so on. They stayed on each lesson for a long while each sometimes a year or more before moving on. Then breathing was a very important role in archery to the master. It helps to get your head into it. The author kept wondering where the lesson on aiming would come, but there never was any. The master kept replying that when "it" is ready "it" shoots. Thus, "it" aims.
 The author got a little upset about the aiming thing, so the master told him to meet him at the practice hall that night. After having a relaxing cup of tea he told the author to go put a small long needle like object in the pile of sand(this was the backdrop) and to leave the light off over it. The master took a first shot that u could hear it hit the target. Then he took a seciond shot that hit the first arrow and split it down to rest right beside the first. He then told the author to go look, the author came back with it. The master said that the first shot was not remarkable at all, but the second was. That when "it" shoots it doesn't matter the target "it" will find it.
 Well, just something I read that I think there is some truth to. After all, as Byron Ferguson says shooting "instictively" is not done immediately by us, it is something that is learned so why then do we call it instictive? i think when we learn to let "it" shoot we will find ourselfs much more happier. That was an insightfull book, worth the look at.

[McDave]

I also read the book, which brings out some of the differences in Eastern and Western philosophy and learning methods.

As you say, the method of learning Japanese archery was to focus on each element of form, and not progress to the next element until the previous one was mastered.

In the West, someone who has never shot an arrow before in his life will generally start shooting arrows after getting a 5-10 minute explanation of how to hold the bow, assuming anyone is around to even do that.  Then we spend the next 10-20 years going back to the fundamentals to learn how to do it right.

The Eastern approach is certainly more methodical, assuming you have the patience, and have a master who is willing to spend that much time with you.  I think the reason they have that much patience in the East is because shooting the arrow is not really the goal; the goal is spritual enlightenment, and progress toward that goal is made (so they say) as much (or more) by spending a year learning to draw the bow than by shooting arrows into the target.

I wouldn't know if the Eastern or Western approach produces better archers in the end.  My guess would be that we probably have better archers here in the United States, who have learned by a comprehensive approach, than those in the East, who have learned by a sequential approach.  But as I said, I don't know that to be the case.  As far as the spiritual enlightenment is concerned, I will leave that to those better informed on such matters than I am.  I do know that when I have had a hectic day at work, shooting a bunch of arrows at my backyard target is a wonderful stress reliever, but that's about as close to spiritual enlightenment through archery as I'm likely to get.

[Kingstaken]

"On the other hand, if you shoot instinctively, perhaps with a swing draw, where you release the arrow as soon as you come to full draw and anchor, I don't think the way you breathe is significant..."

I agree...
Other methods and or styles of shooting require a more steady hand, hence controled breathing.

[madness522]

So far I have tried the swing draw with very unpredictible results...ie..lots of shots not hitting where I want them to.  So I am drawing full and holding for at least a second to allow the tip of the arrow to stop moving and get the sight picture in full focus before dropping the string.  My results are getting better and the shots are coming more naturally. As far as breathing I have started using the same method as when I take a long shot with a rifle.  Big breath and let half out on the draw and hold until the arrow has hit the target.  This is working for me now so I'll stick with it.  Thanks for advice and replies.

[Alsea]

Originally posted by madness522:
 As far as breathing I have started using the same method as when I take a long shot with a rifle.  Big breath and let half out on the draw and hold until the arrow has hit the target.  This is working for me now so I'll stick with it.  Thanks for advice and replies.

That will work just fine.

Do you know how  to breathe with your diaphragm? If you take several deep breaths from the stomach, not the upper chest, before you draw, just like free divers do before a dive, you flood your blood stream with oxygen. Then, inhale as you draw and let about half out as you settle in to anchor. Hold your breath until you've completed the follow through and then exhale after the arrow has reached the target. By inhaling on the draw, you gain muscle strength and get your diaphragm into it.

[madness522]

Originally posted by Alsea:
That will work just fine.

Do you know how  to breathe with your diaphragm? If you take several deep breaths from the stomach, not the upper chest, before you draw, just like free divers do before a dive, you flood your blood stream with oxygen. Then, inhale as you draw and let about half out as you settle in to anchor. Hold your breath until you've completed the follow through and then exhale after the arrow has reached the target. By inhaling on the draw, you gain muscle strength and get your diaphragm into it. [/QB]

No I didn't know how to breath with my diaphragm.  Sounds interesting.  I see my wife breath like that, using her stomach, when she sings but didn't know what it was called.  I shall give that a try after work.  Now I have another reason to not want to be at work today.......

[Alsea]

No I didn't know how to breath with my diaphragm.  Sounds interesting.  I see my wife breath like that, using her stomach, when she sings but didn't know what it was called.  I shall give that a try after work.  Now I have another reason to not want to be at work today.......

Yip....when you use the diaphragm, you completely inflate the lungs, but the average person just breathes with their chest, which only inflates about a third of the lungs. You need to be careful when you start because not being used to the extra oxygen you'll get light headed and can pass out, due to hyperventilation.

[madness522]

Yip....when you use the diaphragm, you completely inflate the lungs, but the average person just breathes with their chest, which only inflates about a third of the lungs. You need to be careful when you start because not being used to the extra oxygen you'll get light headed and can pass out, due to hyperventilation.

Thats funny.  I've done it a few time sitting here at my desk and did fell a little light headed....

[Alsea]

During muscular exercise, blood vessels in muscles dilate and blood flow is increased in order to increase the available oxygen supply. Up to a point, the available oxygen is sufficient to meet the energy needs of the body. However, when muscular exertion is very great, oxygen cannot be supplied to muscle fibers fast enough, and the aerobic breakdown of pyruvic acid cannot produce all the ATP required for further muscle contraction.

If you are going to be exercising for more than a couple of minutes, your body needs to get oxygen to the muscles or the muscles will stop working. Just how much oxygen your muscles will use depends on two processes: getting blood to the muscles and extracting oxygen from the blood into the muscle tissue.

Each time we breathe in, we take about a pint of air.  On average, we take about twenty-four thousand breaths a day.  The majority of adults develop a faulty pattern of breathing, that is, we tend to suppress diaphragm breathing which results in under-utilization of the bottom section of the lungs.  What makes the problem even more acute is that the bottom section, compared to the upper and the middle section of the lungs, is most efficient for intake of oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide.

Without being aware of it, those that advocate shooting only one arrow and then pulling during practice are allowing their oxygen deprived muscles to recover between shots. Most self taught uninstructed archers when shooting a series of arrows, without the aid of a clicker to insure full draw each time, will produce shorter and shorter draws as the oxygen starved muscles cry out in pain and the arrow group widens. It used to be thought that this was due to the build up of lactic acid, but that old theory is no longer held to be viable and instead the emphasis is now put on strenuous anaerobic training to develop mitochondria in order for the muscles to convert the lactic acid into energy. Another consequence of oxygen deficient muscles is TP and snap shooting. Simply put, the inefficient untrained muscles are oxygen starved. That's why you can't hold a hunting weight bow for an interminable period at the shot before release, because you haven't conditioned your body properly. It has nothing to do with arm strength, it's muscle fatigue.

[madness522]

Good info Alsea. Thanks.