Archery Hypnosis – Mental Mastery

 

Have you ever been hypnotized? Yes. Most likely. You just didn’t know it. Have you ever drove somewhere, arrived safely at your destination but couldn’t really recall half the journey? You vaguely remember stopping at a red light so you must’ve obeyed the traffic laws. You arrived safely after all. During parts of your journey, you were likely in a state of hypnosis. It is possible to induce this state under many varied circumstances.

Being immersed in a good book or movie, creating art, driving, or playing sports. Hypnosis is simply a state of mind that focuses all, or nearly all of the conscious mind on a task and simultaneously brings the subconscious mind to the surface. Once the subconscious “surfaces” it can be accessed. This article focuses on archery hypnosis. How to improve your archery practice by using archery hypnosis techniques.

 

 

 

How Hypnosis Works

 

In a nutshell, hypnosis provides a means to focus the conscious mind onto something (like driving) while simultaneously bringing aspects of the subconscious to the surface where programming can take place. Hypnosis is generally thought of as a relaxed, focused state, where external stimuli are dampened.

 

 

Human beings have been inducing themselves into some trance-like or hypnotic states since the beginning of time. The means by which we entered these states varied, from fasting and meditation to the use of entheogens and drugs. Even though the methods of inducing trance varied greatly in the ancient world, the reasons for entering trance seem to be very similar. Trance was induced mainly for the purposes of divination and healing. The shaman would enter a hypnotic trance, climb to a higher dimension where they could seek out whatever information was sought by the tribe, then, most importantly, come back to the mortal realm with the requested information intact.

Hypnosis is nothing new. The benefits of mastering one’s own mind are nothing new either. Modern science only verifies what was known all along. Being in control of the mind’s faculties, thoughts, and focus can be achieved through practice. Various techniques were developed and refined all over the world and throughout history.

 

Why Apply it to Archery?

 

Various hypnosis techniques are actually used all the time by top-level athletes in many sports. These techniques, alongside other techniques such as visualization, affirmations, and meditation can give athletes a considerable edge over the competition. Several scientific studies strongly confirm an improvement for the archer during and after mental exercises, such as hypnosis.

 

 

Archery, especially competitive target archery, is a mental as well as physical exercise. The mind must be relaxed, yet extremely focused on the target. Any archer who has practiced shooting on their own for extended periods knows that archery encourages a calm, focused demeanor.

The cultivation of a meditative, calm, and focused mind is very evident in kyudo or traditional Japanese archery. The archer’s focus on the target is a mental exercise just as much as a physical one.

 

 

Yet there are times when perhaps you have a lot on your mind and you are unable to fully focus on your shots and/or the target. You will indeed see a noticeable difference in your performance. One of the most common mental problems with archery is what is known as target panic. Archery hypnosis can help address this issue.

 

 

Target Panic

 

The mysterious and dreaded curse of the archer: target panic. This condition was earlier referred to as “gold panic” because the center of an archery target is golden yellow. Target panic is usually defined as a psychological—and perhaps neurological condition that affects archers in three primary ways.

1. Premature anchor: the archer may have extreme difficulty bringing the bow to full draw and/or anchoring the shot
2. Lockup (premature hold): during the draw, the archer “locks up” and has difficulty bringing the draw past a certain point
3. Premature release: the archer has great difficulty in bringing the bow to full draw and/or the anchor point without releasing the arrow

The condition affects top-level, Olympic archers, as well as athletes from many other sports. Indeed the very same phenomenon is witnessed in golf and baseball where it is known as “the yips“. By some estimates, target panic afflicts approximately 90 percent of top-level archers at some point in their careers. Sports psychologists put great effort into studying these phenomena and there does seem to be some help available.

 

 

Archery Hypnosis and Performance Improvement

 

Like with many other sports, various mental techniques such as meditation, relaxation, visualization, and hypnosis, can have a significant effect on the athlete or archer. Studies show a gradual improvement in an archer’s performance when incorporating certain visualization and hypnosis techniques into their training. As previously mentioned, mental control and focus are essential to overcoming target panic and other anxiety-inducing mental states.

 

 

Archery Hypnosis Program

 

Would you like to give hypnosis a try in order to improve your archery? There are several books and techniques available out there. We found one in particular that is tailored to archers. From beginners to experts suffering from mild to severe target panic, this book/audiobook is worth a try. I have never suffered from target panic or any serious mental self-sabotage, yet after listening to the audio version, in particular, I did notice an improvement in my focus and my shooting was more accurate. I was also able to shoot for much longer periods of time while practicing without a loss in shot quality. Check it out!  Click Image for Link: