Training Attention

[benos]

I thought I put something up on this but I can't find it. So I'll try again. (If I already did, this will probably be different anyway.)

Experiment with a different way of training the next time you practice. Instead of practicing whatever you normally would - train your attention.

Set up whatever you planned to practice. Then forget everything you've ever learned or tried. Before you shoot a string, pick a "place" to put all your attention. Keep it there for the entire string. Then shoot the string and note the results. Espcially in terms of what you felt and saw. Note if your attention stayed where you wanted it to be, or if "it" went somewhere else.

Remember what you saw. Did you see anything at all precisely? Did you call any shots with certainty? Did the sights stop on the center of each target? After the sights were on the target - how quickly did you confirm sight alignment? Did you pick up the sights peripherally before they reached the center of the target? Did the front sight slide smoothly up and down in and out of the rear notch? Or was it bouncing around in different directions? Did you see the sights lift off the target? If so, what was the first thing you saw after that? Come up with more things to look for.

Remember what you felt. Where you in a hurry? Did you feel careful? If either, how did that work out for you? Did anything seem "fast" or "slow"? How much "time" did you feel? Remember specific body feelings you noticed.

Don't try to repeat anything you noticed.

Examples of places to put your attention: In your grip, trigger finger, front sight only, looking "through" the rear sight to see the front sight (that's an interesting way to see), targets only, face, eyes, shoulders, biceps, between and slightly above your eyes - are a few to get you started. Find more zones to be aware of.

Also try an alternative version. Don't consciously place your attention anywhere. Instead just shoot the string with your goal being to remember what you saw and felt. (That's a good one.)

You might try sticking with one target scenario for each range session, and experiment with various attention zones on today's scenario.

For example, try multiple targets at the same distance, then for the next session move those targets closer or father away. Try multiple targets at various distances. Spend all day on just one target. Shoot just steel plates. Or a mixture of paper and plates.

Find the best place to put your attention in all cases.

Most of all have fun and learn something new. Learning is fun.

be

[DrShooter]

BTT

This is a really cool idea and should be getting more attention. I tried something like this the other day, just shooting one set of targets without thinking about any particular thing. This would be another way to work on my "feel" for the shooting.

[Flexmoney]

Very nice. I was trying to relate something like this in the recent thread on transitions. With... Be aware and observe yourself. Watch and see what happens when you actually shoot.

I am always asking shooters what they just saw, or noticed. What were they focused on? Where was the attention?

The replies they (we) give are interesting. You can often tell if they (we) were open or closed mentally. Many will respond with "I don't know"(shrug), or with whatever single thing that has been on their mind for the last week or more of their shooting (what they forced themselves to be focused on).

Thanks for posting that, Brian. Good stuff. (I know I'll be back to re-read it a few times.)

[benos]

Very nice. I was trying to relate something like this in the recent thread on transitions. With... Be aware and observe yourself. Watch and see what happens when you actually shoot.

I am always asking shooters what they just saw, or noticed...

I remember something Jeff Copper said that really stuck with me. A friend was describing (to Jeff) a kill shot he made on a big game animal. And Jeff asked him, "How big did your front sight look on the animal?"

That's a good one.

be

[HoMiE]

I am having a hard time with the concept of "feel while shooting". When I feel emotional things like, anxious, nervous, I am usually in trouble and things don't go well. I guess my mind is trying to override the program I have visualized. If I "empty the bucket", I don't feel anything while I am shooting. I can review it later and I get those "oh yeah, that's what it felt like" shooting from this or that position. The only thing I can think is that my subconscious is taking over and making the necessary adjustment so I "feel" what I am supposed to while making the shot. So I guess I feel physical/spatial things are good feelings to have while shooting, but emotional things are distrations from the shooting.

[AikiDale]

Homie brings up an important distinction. Kinesthetic awareness and psychological awareness are both refered to as 'feeling'. Even more confusing the same terminology can refer to very different phenomena. "Feeling tense" can refer to being anxious as well as tension in a group of back muscles. When one is 'up tight' we usually refer to his emotional condition, but a skilled observer will note the 'up tight' one's shoulders are tense and elevated as well.

This brings us back to Maku mozo. When paying attention to the kinesthetic feeling be aware of the phychological condition to which it relates and its intellectual basis. Everything we do has an intellectual, physical and tempermental component and while we can focus our awareness on any one or two of these, being aware of all three and how they work in unison can lead to understanding and avoidance of those 'unexplainable' errors.

[Flexmoney]

Nice post, Dale. Good stuff.

[Siphon Odesse]

I am having a hard time with the concept of "feel while shooting". When I feel emotional things like, anxious, nervous, I am usually in trouble and things don't go well.

HoMiE,

Read you post, very interesting. Me, I must confess to being a "worrier" more than a "warrior". "Confess" because it is a trait that really doesn't do me much good on a personal level, and one which I'd like to leave behind.

But, I can still feel while shooting - at least every now and then.

I often have (conscious) thoughts while shooting this or that, and I perform .. well, so-so. But when things go pretty well, smoothly and effortlessly, I have brief stints of .. elation, I think. I feel happy, and I feel how I enjoy shooting this particular stage. Afterwards, I can't seem to recall too much about the actual and technical aspects of the shooting, but I do have the feeling that I could have done it all much faster. (The latter is probably an error; the feeling of performing with confidence and without effort, just watching the shooting going very well usually means I'm pretty much near my abilities.)

Anyway, just wanted to say that I think and hope you can get to feel, and hopefully thoroughly enjoy, shooting a "smoothie" (a stage that goes so smoothly and well, you wish you could just keep shooting ..)

Siphon

Ps: You know when you are asked by a coach or - as in my case - a cognitive behaviourist - to imagine a pleasant state or place, one which you can think of or retreat to, to trigger a feeling of relaxation and joy?

Well, mine is a bank of steel targets (six or seven, as I recall) that I shot in a segment of a stage in a Tuesday match at the Rio Salado .. they were all more or less on their way down simultaneously .. and even I have to admit I must have probably done that pretty well. Still a very nice feeling; still a very nice place.

[VegasOPM]

I'm glad that I read this thread before this weekend. I shot a match on Saturday and Sunday and I went too fast, so I got some Mikes. When I went to practice yesterday I was focusing on perfect sight picture and trigger press- regardless of time. I would load one round and tell myself that this shot is the most important shot ever. I was using the base of 12 ga shells inserted into a hole in the A zone of the target at 10meters. Any shot that did not send the shell flying was a miss- I didn't even acknowledge where the bullet impacted. All that mattered was "that" shot at "that" moment.

I can't really say what I got from the practice, but I did convince myself that I can make the shot when I need to. I can still close my eyes and see the sights- nick and all- centered on that shotgun primer. My trigger finger can still feel the takeup and trigger break. I can't remember being so engrossed in a practice session as I was yesterday.

[benos]

I'm glad that I read this thread before this weekend. I shot a match on Saturday and Sunday and I went too fast, so I got some Mikes. When I went to practice yesterday I was focusing on perfect sight picture and trigger press- regardless of time. I would load one round and tell myself that this shot is the most important shot ever. I was using the base of 12 ga shells inserted into a hole in the A zone of the target at 10meters. Any shot that did not send the shell flying was a miss- I didn't even acknowledge where the bullet impacted. All that mattered was "that" shot at "that" moment.

I can't really say what I got from the practice, but I did convince myself that I can make the shot when I need to. I can still close my eyes and see the sights- nick and all- centered on that shotgun primer. My trigger finger can still feel the takeup and trigger break. I can't remember being so engrossed in a practice session as I was yesterday.

Great stuff!

I would load one round and tell myself that this shot is the most important shot ever.

[redmanfixit]

It's always a question of balance. In any dis-ease there is a lack of balance on one or another or some combination of continua. We exist in a continuum of continua. When we finally manage to allow all (or most) of the oscillations hit zero, something wonderful happens. Last weekend, I went to an IDPA match in Clear Creek Colorado. Decided to shoot my new, lucky, XD 9. Usually I'm attached to shooting Single Stack. But that day, I decided 9 would be fine. The weather was beautiful and there were SO many people I like to see. I was feeling no agitation. I could remember to breathe. My gun ran perfectly. It was effortless. Had I been able to remember how to count to two right then, I would have shot a clean match. My friends told me they had never seen me be that quick. It felt completely unhurried, I had all the time in the world. I somehow managed (allowed) myself to see everything and only the aiming point on each target. NOW I have to try and not to grasp to get back to that place I think more yoga would, might help! What I felt was complete entrainment in the moment. My kinesthetic awareness was neutral. My psychological awareness was neutral. (VERY nice distinction AikiDale). I have heard it called flow moment. SO nice!!

Perhaps the Deity will allow me moments like that again before I die!!

" If you push something hard enough, it will fall over!" Fudds first law.

[Siphon Odesse]

When I went to practice yesterday I was focusing on perfect sight picture and trigger press- regardless of time. I would load one round and tell myself that this shot is the most important shot ever. I was using the base of 12 ga shells inserted into a hole in the A zone of the target at 10meters. Any shot that did not send the shell flying was a miss- I didn't even acknowledge where the bullet impacted. All that mattered was "that" shot at "that" moment.

I can't really say what I got from the practice, but I did convince myself that I can make the shot when I need to. I can still close my eyes and see the sights- nick and all- centered on that shotgun primer. My trigger finger can still feel the takeup and trigger break. I can't remember being so engrossed in a practice session as I was yesterday.

I was inspired by this, and yesterday, on one of my infrequent visits to the range, tried something along the same lines. I'm an Open div. shooter, and have read about focusing on the actual dot, (someone borrowed my BE book, and I'l never see that copy again, no doubt, so I couldn't check it) but figured it was time to try something different.

So, I pretended the dot was a steel front sight, focused hard on it, and shot at scoring patches at about 20 or so yrds. I "placed" the patches at 12 o'clock, slightly over the dot. The patches went ever so slightly blurry.

The hits were exactly at that place relative to the dot at that range, so the sight picture got somewhat distorted as the rounds went through the target. Nevertheless, I got excellent accuracy out of all loads, several of which had disappointed me previously. Turned out to be a rewarding session, with images to ponder in the days to come. Can't wait to try the shot shell base-version.

Siphon