Last week, Lou and I went to Neri's Immersion Project, "Peaceful Archer" -- or Archery with Yoga Asana for warm up and cool down. It's soooo COOOOL! And the word "cool" is an understatement for such exhilarating experience... Being a Lasallian "archer" who has actually NEVER tried REAL archery before, and who has convinced her ATENEAN husband to try it, I swear -- this is a milestone for me. haha!
It was held at Kodanda, Makati Cinema Square - It's quite a small archery range, which was actually perfect for the size of our group that morning. After a 10-minute yoga sequence by Neri, the staff taught us the basics of Archery. First things first, those targets need to be moved closer for beginners like us. hahaha! (they're usually aligned with the farthest white line on the floor!)
Next, stand sideways with feet hip-width apart, load an arrow, hold the bow's grip with your left hand (if you're right-handed), extend, and then with the arrow inserted between your right hand's index and middle fingers, PULL the string all the way to your chin, with your right elbow pointing a bit upwards.
Then, peep through the sight window (that tiny orange thing of the bow), aim for the target, then release your right hand's fingers. Then that's it!!! It can get a bit frustrating at the start, but once you "calibrate" your body to the correct angles of these rules and when you experience the joy in hitting the target's inner circles, it can get really REALLY addicting. =)
Another rule -- Of course, two people can never do different things at the same time! Retrieve/Shoot arrows as signified by whistles. And when retrieving, leave your bow in this rack to make sure you don't absent mindedly shoot while the rest are retrieving. It's really important to follow this, otherwise you can hurt or even KILL someone! Take note that an arrow's head is sharpened steel that can pierce really really deep! These arrows work exactly how they appear in movies!
Ah, what a fun experience! While it seems like a form of workout that will really stretch your upper arm (just one arm, sadly. haha) it's also a perfect way to practice your focus. And, it becomes more than a physical activity when it starts to give you a liberating feeling -- a happy kind of feeling you release when you are mad or stressed, or when you're simply needing a different kind of break. Now I leave you with the photo of my target paper, after the set which had the most number of yellow hits:
Now, I'm one proud REAL archer. haha! Thank you so much, Neri, for a very awesome archery-with-yoga experience! :)
Kodanda Archery Range
Makati Cinema Square, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City
Rate: 500 per hour, includes tutorial for beginners! +P30 for the target paper.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KodandaArchery
nice ang archery diba :) pero parang mas okay yung sanyo kasi may yoga pa.
ReplyDeletei think the first time i tried this was two years ago. then my last try was january of last year. kaya dapat matry ko ulit para at least once a year haha!