Group Soul-centric Instruction
As I have mentioned in the individual archery instruction page, I’m not very interested in teaching archery for the sake of training technically proficient archers, or simply introduce someone to the sport. I offer archery as a path to self-awareness, healing, growth, play, and connection to our humanity through our ancestors, myths, etymology, archetypes, and the world in which we live.
In group archery instruction you receive the same instruction as the individual without as much personal attention. However, in a group experience everyone learns from each other and the learning takes on a different feel and depth. Together, we encounter our common humanity through our successes, missed shots, edges, where we abandon ourselves, and when we are on the mark.
As with one-on-one archery instruction, group instruction starts with the very basics, assuming that a person has never picked up a bow. I have found that inviting the beginner’s mind leads to surprising depth of learning for even those with a lot of experience. I teach archery not from a technical point of view of gap shooting, or using compound bows with sight pins, etc, although I respect their use and why people use them. In order to drop more deeply into the human and archetypal archery experience, and allow the ancestral conversation to take place, I use simple recurve bows, and I help the person learn to shoot from their gut, from instinct.
From basic posture, through the six main stages of the shot, using breath, meditation, visualization, and repetition, we move through each stage, drawing out what they reflect in your relationship to self, and to the world. We might work with some of the material that comes up for you, like the emotions of shame, fear, or excitement, or the memories, beliefs, patterns, and associations that limit your ability to manifest yourself into the world. While exploring this vulnerable material in a group might sound scary to many, I facilitate by inviting a field of safety and play, I ask for your consent when I offer reflections or drawing out your experience. There is also something intoxicating and deeply primal about holding a bow and arrow, and feeling our ancestors at our backs that seems to hold us all.
I hope that you will build first and foremost, safety on the range. Beyond that, I hope that you will cultivate a humble embodied confidence that allows you to hit the mark, and perhaps feel the bullseye before you have released the arrow, and also cultivating the curiosity and playful compassion that allows you to learn and grow from the many shots we miss. Above all, I hope that each person cultivates a greater state of self awareness, and self-acceptance.
The lessons we learn from archery translate into the other aspects of our lives, especially when we increase our capacity to be awkward, to make wondrous mistakes, to take risks putting ourselves out into the world by casting the metaphoric arrows our souls were placed here to cast, that perhaps we have kept safe and hidden in our quiver.
Archery as a metaphor for life, has been a profound practice for me, and I’m brought alive when I have the chance to share this with others.
While most of my offerings are intended for adults, the archery offerings can be catered to ages 9-90. Groups include couples, families, organized groups, and groups of individuals that sign up for periodic planned programs.