But do this without tension, because it is impossible to hold all the rules in your head; and with a tranquil mind, as you review each stage, you will see again all the most difficult moments and how you overcame them.
This will give you confidence, and your hand will stop shaking.
How to Draw the Bowstring
The bow is a musical instrument, and its sound is made manifest in the string.
The bowstring is a big thing, but the arrow touches only one point on it, and all the archer’s knowledge and experience should be concentrated on that one small point.
If he leans slightly to the right or to the left, if that point is above or below the line of fire, he will never hit the target.
Therefore, when you draw the bowstring, be like a musician playing an instrument. In music, time is more important than space; a group of notes on a line means nothing, but the person who can read what is written there can transform that line into sounds and rhythms.
Just as the archer justifies the existence of the target, so the arrow justifies the existence of the bow: you can throw an arrow with your hand, but a bow without an arrow is no use at all.
Therefore, when you open your arms, do not think of yourself as stretching the bow. Think of the arrow as the still center and that you are trying to bring the ends of the bow and bowstring closer together; touch the string delicately; ask for its cooperation.
How to Look at the Target
Many archers complain that, despite having practiced the art of archery for many years, they still feel their heart beating anxiously, their hands shaking, their aim failing. They need to understand that a bow or an arrow can change nothing, but that the art of archery makes our mistakes more obvious.
On a day when you are out of love with life, your aim will be confused, difficult. You will find that you lack the strength to draw the string back fully, that you cannot get the bow to bend as it should.
And when you see that your aim is poor that morning, you will try to find out what could have caused such imprecision; this will mean confronting the problem that is troubling you but that, up until then, has remained hidden.
The opposite can happen too: your aim is true; the string hums like a musical instrument; the birds are singing all around. Then you realize that you are giving of your best.
Nevertheless, do not allow yourself to be carried away by how you shoot in the morning, whether well or badly. There are many more days ahead, and each arrow is a life in itself.
Use your bad moments to discover what makes you tremble. Use your good moments to find your road to inner peace.
But do not stop either out of fear or out of joy: the way of the bow has no end.
The Moment of Release
There are two types of shot.
The first is the shot made with great precision, but without any soul. In this case, although the archer may have a great mastery of technique, he has concentrated solely on the target, and because of this he has not evolved, he has become stale, he has not managed to grow, and, one day, he will abandon the way of the bow because he finds that everything has become mere routine.
The second type of shot is the one made with the soul. When the intention of the archer is transformed into the flight of the arrow, his hand opens at the right moment, the sound of the string makes the birds sing, and the gesture of shooting something over a distance provokes—paradoxically enough—a return to and an encounter with oneself.
You know the effort it took to draw the bow, to breathe correctly, to concentrate on the target, to be clear about your intention, to maintain elegance of posture, to respect the target, but you need to understand too that nothing in this world stays with us for very long: at a given moment, your hand will have to open and allow your intention to follow its destiny.
Therefore, the arrow must leave, however much you love all the steps that led to the elegant posture and the correct intention, and however much you admire its feathers, its point, its shape.
However, it cannot leave before the archer is ready to shoot, because its flight would be too brief.
It cannot leave after the exact posture and concentration have been achieved, because the body would be unable to withstand the effort and the hand would begin to shake.
It must leave at the moment when bow, archer, and target are at the same point in the universe: this is called inspiration.
Repetition
The gesture is the incarnation of the verb; that is, an action is a thought made manifest.
A small gesture betrays us, so we must polish everything, think about details, learn the technique in such a way that it becomes intuitive. Intuition has nothing to do with routine, but with a state of mind that is beyond technique.
So, after much practicing, we no longer think about the necessary movements; they become part of our own existence. But for this to happen, you must practice and repeat.
And if that isn’t enough, you must repeat and practice.
Look at the skilled farrier working steel. To the untrained eye, he is merely repeating the same hammer blows.
But anyone who knows the way of the bow knows that each time he lifts the hammer and brings it down, the intensity of the blow is different. The hand repeats the same gesture, but as it approaches the metal, it understands that it must touch it with more or less force.
So it is with repetition; although it may appear to be the same thing, it is always different.
Look at the windmill. To someone who glances at its sails only once, they seem to be moving at the same speed, repeating the same movement.
But those familiar with windmills know that they are controlled by the wind and change direction as necessary.
The hand of the farrier was trained by repeating the gesture of hammering thousands of times. The sails of the windmill can move fast when the wind blows hard and thus ensure that its gears run smoothly.