Monday, June 1, 2009

warrior poses

I've been saying it since I began shooting - time at the range is as relaxing and beneficial as yoga. (and now I have science to back me up!)

Shooters who have never tried yoga probably don't understand how two things that seem so absolutely worlds apart could possibly have anything in common. But being aware of and following the 4 Rules, carefully loading your firearm, aligning your body in the proper stance, holding the firearm securely in your hands and being conscious of your breathing as you pull the trigger slow enough so as to be surprised each time the gun fires, if done right, is almost meditative.

The common factor? Mindfulness.

So go shooting - recoil therapy truly is good for your health.
Posted by breda at 6/01/2009 10:50:00 PM
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6 comments:

Warthog said...

Actually, that's true. My .45ACP therapy sessions have been documented to lower my blood pressure by 20-30 points.

June 2, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Lissa said...

Probably easier on the eyes, too; downward dog may be relaxing but it's not very pretty, hanging out with your head down and your butt in the air :)

June 2, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Aaron said...

And doing the vinyassa (no idea how to spell that) to get into downward dog in the first place is only relaxing the first twenty or thirty times. :)

I spend roughly as much time doing yoga as, dependent on ammo budget, and not only are they similar, they're complimentary. The ability to exert stable, dynamic tension on one's firearm while keeping the entire body poised and balanced does amazing things for accuracy, especially from the standing position.

June 2, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Shoothouse Barbie said...

I remember feeling the zen of shooting my first time out on the range. The expanded awareness and control. I hit my target with the AR15 and wanted to jump around and squee, but one cannot jump around and squee when one is holding an AR15. Or at least, one shouldn't. I took another deep breath and let it out, snuggled up to the stock and peered through the scope, acquired my site picture, closed my eyes, breathed once more, opened my eyes again, and took another shot. Then another. And another.

After an hour of containing the adrenaline rush, I let it out. The sensation was totally similar to that of a yoga class induced one-ness with the world.

I've said before that if I had learned to shoot at a much younger age, and learned to control my adrenaline rush like that, I would've had a much more successful figure skating career (nerves always got to me).

June 2, 2009 at 3:49 PM
phlegmfatale said...

when I started picking up brass at the range as a way to warm up and cool down before and after shooting, I started referring to it as "redneck yoga."

Come to think of it, I haven't been shooting in about 10 days. I'm overdue...

June 3, 2009 at 12:20 AM
Anonymous said...

Fantastic, I love the correlation between shooting and yoga. It has so much to do with the mind. Our minds are the most powerful weapons we have. If they're not in the right place, when the rubber meets the road, we may hesitate when we need to pull the trigger to defend ourselves. http://tinyurl.com/nn329w

June 9, 2009 at 11:09 AM

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