|
Attunement
|
Attunement is a sporting
bodymind system. The idea is to make sure you have adjusted
to the environment, and your place in it, before competition
begins. There are six steps, paraphrased here briefly. I see
them as a kind of checklist. The book builds a whole mental
warm-up system on this. |
|
Steps in attunement
|
 |
Place |
Take
time to look at the place, check out details, find out what
the lighting's like, where the wind will come from, what kind
of distractions to expect. Deal with potential distractions;
bodymind uses the black
box technique for some of this.. |
|
Body |
Observe
your own physiological state, thoughts and feelings. Apply any
necessary techniques to adjust mental and and physical state.
Mental state adjustment could include relaxation, 'psyching
up' or concentration techniques. Physical state will involve
your normal warm-up and practice routine. |
|
People |
Check
out the individuals around you, including the competition. |
|
Team |
If you're
in a team setting and teamwork is important, the team needs
time to settle in together for the day. That may be as little
as walking the line saying hi! to each other, or it could be
the team manager's pep-talk. |
|
Objective |
Brain
in gear, settled into the place, met the people - time to reaffirm
what you want out of the day |
|
Strategy |
...
and finally focus in on how you;re going to achieve it. Think
it through, and finally get out there and do it. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Warm-up routine
|
|
Your pre-competition set-up and warm up routine
can do a lot to set you up for the shoot. The order of events
can vary according to what works best, but here are the main
components.
|
|
Leave Time |
Allow
time, or have a routine that needs little time. Most people
take at least 30 minutes to adjust before a shoot, and that
doesn't allow for discovering you left the tent pegs in the
car... |
|
Physical
warmup |
For
archery, your physiological arousal level - breathing, heart
rate etc. - doesn't generally need to be very high. Typical
recommendations now are 'loosening up'. But if you find you
need to be a bit 'pumped up' to perform well, combining a more
vigorous physical warm-up with some visualisation is a great
way to get there. |
|
Review aims |
As
for attunement, take a few moments out to remember what the
aims are, and remind yourself of your personal targets for the
day. Adjust score targets for conditions, too, if necessary. |
|
Clear distractions |
Check
out possible distractions and get adjusted to them; put your
own demons in their boxes for later. |
|
Adjust arousal levels |
Apply
any visualisation, relaxation or other techniques to ease yourself
into your best pre-competition state of mind. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
