How to get rid of the Archer's Reflex

Book excerpt: Everyone who has progressed past the stage of ‘just shooting’ knows that moment of mental confusion when the subconscious mind somehow takes control over the conscious attempt to release the string steadily for accurate, repeatable shots, leaving a surprise poor shot and a sense of amnesia about what led up to it. Don’t PANIC – it‘s just a reflex! The archery world has long referred to this as ’target panic’. Yet most affected archers feel no sense of panic at all: they plan the shot, feel comfortable about taking it, and are unafraid of the bow recoiling or the arrow hitting its mark. In fact, they experience no ‚panic’ at all. Yet most find that they experience the same outcome: an uncontrolled release, followed by that baffled feeling. As the arrow lands askew, and our memory of those critical moments goes blank, we ask ourselves „What happened there?” In this ground-breaking practical guide Jes Lysgaard applies his background in psychology and hypnotherapy to his experience as a traditional archer, to uncover what our minds are actually doing as we live this frustrating experience. Jes explains how this neural program has quietly become so deeply ingrained over the course of our hundreds of previous successful shots that, at that vital moment in our shot cycle, it knows “this is what good looks like; go now!”, quite outside our conscious control. Meanwhile, the cognitive process which we have rehearsed to hold and expand for an involuntary, perfectly stable release is still obediently determined to hold the string until it releases automatically. This sudden clash between opposing neural signals - the conscious ‘hold!’ and the subconscious ‘release now!‘ - gives rise to that bewildering mental flurry and yet another uncontrolled release. Not a ‘panic’ at all. Just the Archer’s Reflex. REGAIN CONTROL – REPROGRAM YOUR BRAIN In practical steps which you can follow as you practise, Jes shows how to deprogram your own Archer’s Reflex, and build in its place a new, positive, replacement neural program with which you can regain control over your shot cycle and fresh enjoyment of your shooting. REDISCOVER THE JOY OF SHOOTING