Target Panic and Shot Control dvd

[CLICKERMAN]

The Target Panic and Shot Control DVD is now available at the A&H Archery website.  It can be found in the DVD section in the menu on the left of the opening page.  I believe it will answer many of the questions that exist about target panic and it shows a clear and simple path to shot control.  I hope you find it worthy of your time.

Thanks to everyone that helped me put this together.

Joel Turner

[Bear Heart]

I will be ordering it next month. Don't think I have TP but always looking to sharpen my mental focus. It was fun flinging arrows with you on the  practice range at packwood.

[stagetek]

Thanks for the tip Clickerman. I just ordered the DVD.

[Paul Newton]

I took Joel's clinic in May and found it to be a wealth of information. I also just ordered the dvd to reinforce the ideas Joel teaches.

[muley40]

Just ordered the DVD Joel!

[Rob W.]

I'm going to order Friday. Thanks Joel!


Rob

[pamike]

On the way - thanks Joel!!!

[toby]

Will order on Monday, thanks Joel.

[Wiley Coyote]

Ordered it last night!!! Target panic has been a problem for years. I don't even shoot that poorly by myself but when I am shooting with a group......I may as well not bother, it is just a sad situation. I hope the DVD helps.  

[quail]

Well worth the $$. Joel's concepts are spot on! I would highly encourage anyone to view this DVD. Very interesting information even if you do not suffer from target panic.

[McDave]

Just finished watching the DVD, and I learned a lot from it.  I'm sure I'll play it a few more times before I get everything out of it.  The DVD should help anyone shoot better, whether they currently suffer from target panic or not, because it shows you what you need to concentrate on, what is a waste of energy to concentrate on, an effective way to focus your concentration where it is needed, and how to become aware before you release the arrow if you have lost your focus.

[Gundog68]

I received and watched the DVD yesterday. There are a lot of good stuff to see. I tried something with feathers also yesterday to get a trigger. I put some feathers on an short aluminum shaft over a smaller carbon shaft (to move the feathers on the shaft to get the right position) for checking how to get the feather to the nose.
It did not work out. Some tips on other possible "trigger" are welcome. I shoot split-finger with gloves and have big eye-glasses with a low anchor.
Thanks.

[Todd Hathaway]

Watched the video, and understand the concept, there is just one thing that's bugging me. I understand the focus needs to be on the pulling movement so as to avoid anticipatory thoughts. What's never mentioned though, is what makes the shot go off when the feather hits your nose? If you're not thinking about the feather hitting your nose, why would you release when you're only thinking of pulling?

It seems that in the back of your mind you know the release has to happen when the feather hits your nose (or whatever trigger you use), so you will have to make mental checks occasionally to see if it has happened. This would lead to anticipating the feather touching the nose, which would lead to releasing just before it got there.

Is this trigger somehow subconsciously developed?

[McDave]

I think we have to make a distinction here between cognitive thinking and awareness.  One of the examples Joel has in the DVD is if you're pulling, and the thought occurs to you, "wow, this is taking a long time to get to my nose,"  that thought is cognitive, or conceptual thinking about an action, as opposed to actual physical awareness of an action that is taking place, and is an interruption in your concentration, and means that you should let down the bow and start over.  He constantly asks the question, "what were you thinking?" because humans tend to blur the distinction between conceptualizing and doing.  We may have conceptual thoughts about pulling the bow that seem real to us, but they're not; the only thing that is real is the physical feeling of pulling the bow.  If we can distinguish what our conceptual thoughts are from our physical awareness, then we can recognize the cognitive thoughts that interrupt our concentration in time to do something about it (let down the bow), as opposed to just guessing what went wrong after the shot.

When you say the mantra, "Keep pulling, keep pulling....." the reason you're saying it is to block cognitive thoughts about pulling the bow, and instead, just pull it.

The reason you release the arrow when the feather touches your nose is that you have made a plan to do that in advance.  The physical touch of the feather against your nose triggers the release, not the thought of the feather touching your nose.  Ideally, you should be thinking about nothing as you pull the bow, you should instead be physically aware of everything that is happening.

I think everything I said so far is in agreement with Joel's DVD. However, I would go one step further and say that the ideal would be to do away with the mantra and just experience the pull of the bow.  The mantra is a step designed to do away with cognitive thoughts during the shot, but the goal should be to do away with cognitive thoughts without having to say the mantra.  Joel may disagree with what I just said, and if he does, I hope he will chime in and maybe I will learn something.

[quail]

I believe Joel states in the video that he only uses the mantra now in extreme stress scenarios. This would align with what you are thinking McDave. I believe the goal is to utilize the mantra to program the mind???

[McDave]

Yes, I forgot about him saying that. So maybe he wouldn't disagree with what I said.  Yes, the mantra is used to program the mind to focus on the ACT of pulling the bow (what I call awareness) and to exclude thoughts  ABOUT shooting the bow (cognitive or conceptual thinking) because thoughts about shooting the bow are a major cause of target panic.

[quail]

Amen! I have been playing with the mantra in an attempt to improve my shot execution. It is possible to say the mantra and still not focus on the action. At least for me and my ADD it is!  Focused concentration on anything is a skill .  I believe for most of us, it has to be learned and practiced to be part of how we execute an act. Just my experience!

[McDave]

One thing that might help you is to try to increase your awareness of what's happening while you're shooting the bow.  With your ADD, you have the mental capacity to focus on a lot more than just "pulling."  Your mind will use that capacity, whether you like it or not.  It will either fill that capacity with thoughts that are destructive to your shot process, or you could increase your awareness of what's going on during your shot process and actually improve your accuracy.  For example, can you feel where your drawing forearm ends up at full draw?  Is it really behind the arrow?  Or are you just guessing where it is?  Can you feel your fingers relax at full draw, or are you just flattening the back of your hand and trying to match the cant of the bow?  There are endless ways you can increase your physical awareness and improve your shooting, and each one of them replaces a conceptual thought that robs you of your focus.  Your mind only has so much capacity, and if you fill that capacity with awareness, it has no room for conceptual thoughts that take you out of the here and now.

[quail]

Thanks for the feedback McDave. My "ADD" comment was more of an attempt to poke fun at shortcomigs in mental shot execution than referring to a diagnosed condition. However, you are exactly correct. My blind bale time has really helped me with what you are referring to, but I really hadn't been able to articulate the awareness concept as well as you. Thanks!

[CLICKERMAN]

The mantra is used to direct concentration into a muscle group.  Because of neurolinguistic programming, what you say is what you think.  Remember that anytime someone knows something is important and they want to direct concentration to that thing (a specific movement) they will verbalize something like "Cmon, Cmon, Cmon"  That is their mantra at that time, for that movement.  I am just wanting people to be more specific with the direction of the concentration by using the words that already mean the movements.  Hence, if the desired movement is pulling, we use that word in the mantra.  Keep is a word that we use constantly if we want a movement to continue.  So I like to use it in the mantra to make it more rhythmic.  When I first discovered this phenomenon, I noticed that my student's movement went exactly with the speed of the mantra I was speaking to them.

It sounds from the conversations in this thread so far, people are starting to think within their shot, that is the underlying goal of this whole program.  A realization of what you are actually thinking about during the shot.  Formulating a specific plan for your shot, each and every time, and not shooting that arrow unless the shot is going according to that plan.

A cognitive thought process that causes your body shock will never become automatic for the conscious mind.  The subcon wants to make it automatic so it can precisely brace the body for that shock.  That is the hard wired response of self preservation.  The subcon wants to let the arrow go to get the body out of tension and brace the body for the recoil of the bow going off.  That is why there is no recoil bracing when you know you are not going to shoot the arrow.  

I only have to say my mantra under extreme stress because I have engrained the concentration into my shot sequence.  I am totally aware of the movement that gets me to my trigger.  So aware, in fact, that I know when something is not going correctly.  I have to use the mantra under extreme stress to remind myself of that shot separation between aiming and shot activation.

McDave is correct in saying the subcon will release the arrow when the trigger is hit because you have made that decision before the shot is started.

Remember the plan of the shot.  It has two specific jobs within it.  1.  Draw back and aim (once you are done with the aim, watch it to keep it.)  2.  Switch the concentration to the movement that gets you to your trigger by saying (and thinking)your mantra.  When the trigger hits, or clicks, or whatever it does you release the arrow by relaxing your hand.  

If the shot is not following that plan, recognize that something is not right, and LET IT DOWN!!!!!  You cannot get better at concentration if you shoot bad arrows.  Refuse to let an arrow go unless it is perfect in concentration.  It only takes about two let downs followed by thought analysis to really understand what you are actually thinking about.

I hope everyone is enjoying the dvd!!!!