Keeping a Psycho-trigger Non-anticipatory?

[NYRON]

For those that use psycho-triggers to initiate your release, how do you keep your trigger non-anticipatory?

For about the past 5 years, I have shot 3 fingers under, anchoring on the side of my face just under my cheekbone and using the tip of the cockfeather to my nose as a trigger for release. After finding my anchor, I pause for a fraction of a second and then continue pulling until the feather makes contact, which triggers my release.

Though not identical, my style of shooting is similar to those taught by Rick Welch and Joel Turner.

For years this style has served me very well and saved me from target panic and a life of clickers.

Lately; however, I have started to anticipate contact of the feather on my nose. This causes me a number of problems, including flinching, releasing abruptly, and even holding my head back to avoid making contact with the feather. I think this last problem is a form of target panic creeping back in.

Anyway, I’m curious about any tips that you might have for keeping a long-term psycho-trigger non-anticipatory?

Thanks for your input.

Ron

[McDave]

I know this might go against everything you've been taught, but since you mentioned Rick Welch....  He starts his hold when the feather touches his nose.  He does not pull through.  He holds with the feather touching his nose for at least 2 seconds, and then waits until the shot goes off.  My own experience is that I am able to focus my concentration during this holding time, I know when I'm as focused as I'm going to get, and then I give myself "permission" to fire.  Nothing, no pulling through, no waiting for the feather to contact my nose, is happening other than holding on the target after I give myself permission to fire.  The release is a surprise, similar to shooting a rifle.  Since there is nothing left to do after I give myself permission to fire, other than fire, target panic doesn't (or at least hasn't) happened since I've started using this method.

One problem I have had is loss of back tension, creeping, during the hold, since I'm not pulling through.  I found that I could pull the string back until it was pressing against the bone underneath my eyebrow, which becomes an additional anchor.  It is a lot easier for me to maintain a constant pressure of the string against this bone than to be directly aware of what's going on in my back.  Rick, I think, has a greater awareness than I do of his back tension and doesn't need this extra reminder.

[Flingblade]

I also use the feather to nose trigger.  Joel teaches to focus all of your concentration on the action that gets you to the trigger, not the trigger itself.  In our case that is pulling the bow back.  If you start to think about the feather or anything else other than pulling let down and start over.  Once at full draw I use the mantra "keep pulling, keep pulling" and my mind is thinking about pulling with the back muscles.  Sometimes I'll think "man is that feather ever going to get here" and when that happens my concentration is off and I let down.  Good luck!

[CLICKERMAN]

Nyron,

Give me a call and I will explain your situation.  I have a few very specific questions for you.  The answers will set you on the right path.  Flingblade is absolutely correct but I may be able to explain the WHY of it all!!!

JT  253-686-3623

[NYRON]

Thanks, Joel. That's very generous of you. I will shoot you a PM to set up a time to talk.

Ron

[Ravenhood]

I started Joels method 54 days ago, I use a clicker, at first it was easy to keep pulling without anticipating the clicker going off and shoot really well . After about 20 days I started struggling with flinching when the clicker goes off. I have found that switching a word in my Mantra or the intensity of the words gets my conscious aware that I really want it to concentrate on what I am saying. This system still works for me it just takes more work than it did in the beginning .

[therook]

Any tips on how to avoid anticipating the trigger? Its a bad habit I've recently gotten into.

[McDave]

Anticipating the trigger happens because you are thinking about the trigger, rather than focusing on a mantra or pulling.  If I'm pulling, and saying my mantra, but in another part of my mind I'm thinking, "this is hard to do, and I wish the trigger would happen, and it should be about ready to happen now", that defeats the purpose of saying the mantra and focusing on pulling.  The purpose of saying the mantra and focusing on pulling is to take your attention away from the trigger, so that when it happens, it is a surprise.

Now you ask, how can I be surprised 1,000 times in a row, when the clicker (or whatever) happens at the same place every time I shoot?  How could I NOT begin to anticipate it after a while?  The answer is, you can't anticipate it if you're not thinking about it.  The purpose of the mantra and focusing on pulling is to give your mind something else to do so you're not anticipating the trigger.  Sometimes when Joel asks people what they were thinking about during the shot sequence, it's very difficult to respond, because it doesn't seem like they were thinking about anything; at least, that's the way it was for me.  Sometimes, thoughts like, "this is getting hard to hold together and the clicker should be about ready to click," don't seem like thoughts at all, they just seem like an awareness of reality, so they're hard to recall.  But those are the thoughts you want to get rid of.  The first step in getting rid of them is to realize that they ARE thoughts and should be under your control, and not just a part of the environment around you.  If you have those thoughts, it means that you need to focus more on whatever method you are using to avoid them, or if the method is ineffective, try a different one.

One thing that was effective for me was to accept that in each and every shot I make, there will come a point when it becomes difficult to hold the shot together.  Before, I had a kind of dread of reaching that point, which made me want to rush to get the shot over with when I felt that point approaching.  Which is kind of dumb, in a way.  Why even do archery if you want to rush to get it over with?  So I convinced myself to simply anticipate the tension as a normal part of the shot rather than dread it, and let myself experience it rather than avoid it.  Just a subtle shift in point of view, but it has helped.

[therook]

Any more* tips I should have said. Thanks everyone

[therook]

McDave, what you posted above makes perfect sense. I was at a 2 day 3D shoot and shot well the first day with no target panic, Joel's video and tips had worked wonders for me.

Day 2 rolled around and I was fatigued. Target panic in the form of not wanting to release when I hit my trigger and flinching at the shot took over. I started to think more at the shot and fell out of the mindset Joel talks about. How do you deal with something that you feel during the shot, like fatigue, and keep the mindset of "keep pulling keep pulling"?
I appreciate the help

[therook]

McDave, what you posted above makes perfect sense. I was at a 2 day 3D shoot and shot well the first day with no target panic, Joel's video and tips had worked wonders for me.

Day 2 rolled around and I was fatigued. Target panic in the form of not wanting to release when I hit my trigger and flinching at the shot took over. I started to think more at the shot and fell out of the mindset Joel talks about. How do you deal with something that you feel during the shot, like fatigue, and keep the mindset of "keep pulling keep pulling"?
I appreciate the help

[CLICKERMAN]

Nyron,

Everything revolves around the question:  what are you thinking about during the shot.  If a trigger becomes anticipatory, that means you are thinking about the trigger instead of the movement that gets you to the trigger.  Remember you have to get better at thought recognition and be willing to let down if a foreign thought comes in.  The system will never break down if you are determined to only shoot an arrow if the shot is going as planned.  It is not that you break down, it is merely your subconscious trying to gain efficiency.  The gremlin will never go away, it is a hard wired system of efficiency that has kept you alive.

Archers hope that things will work for them as cures for target panic, but cures only work if the archer knows how to concentrate and is determined to concentrate on the movement to trigger every shot.  Remember the two jobs of every shot 1. Draw back and aim, watch it to keep it.  2.  Switch the concentration to pulling by saying the mantra of keep pulling, keep pulling...  Anything other than that plan and I mean anything( feeling or thought) should cause you to let down and ask yourself that important question: what was I thinking about during that shot?  That is how you get better at concentration.