The Zen of Shooting

One of the great things about any martial art is the possibility that a practitioner can take so many different things away from their studies. Shooting is no different. To people on the outside, and to the new shooter, the shooting sports can often be seen as a loud, boisterous, and disruptive event. To the seasoned shooters, and those who have the gift of introspection, shooting is so much more. Shooting can be a way of learning a self-defense skill or empowerment. Shooting can be a mechanism for putting fresh meat in the freezer. Shooting can be a recreation. And shooting can be an intense form of relaxation.

I often hear people say they come to the range to “blow off steam” or otherwise clear their minds. And I do the same thing. Even though I might have a very ridged plan for the day, every round down range being accounted for, shooting can be very relaxing. Like so many endeavors, it is not the perfection of the activity, but the endless pursuit of perfection that takes us out of our everyday life and brings us to a moment of peace.
Let’s drill down a little deeper into this. For example, shooting a handgun may look like a physical activity to those who do not understand it. There is the strength of grasping the firearm, the manipulations, the noise and possibly recoil depending on caliber and firearm choice. All these things add up to the un-initiated as a physical skill. But anyone who has shot a gun, and tried to hit a target, will tell you that it is much more a mental skill than anything else. The shooting process can take extreme concentration, or a brief moment of coalescence of technique, to achieve the desired goals. And for this to happen, the shooter will ideally immerse themselves in the process and tune out any un-necessary input or stimuli. This applies to the sport shooter as well as the defensive shooter.

Experienced sport shooters will often speak of “being in the zone” in that they are both utterly focused on their performance, while being completely relaxed in the execution of the tasks at hand. This is no different than some of the Asian concepts of Zen. Or walking meditation. Some long-range rifle shooters and snipers have called this “being in the bubble”. The participant is completely immersed in the task at hand. This might be as simple as practicing the fundamentals of marksmanship with a scoped rifle, or as complex as running an Action Pistol style course with obstacles, targets of varying degrees of difficulty and the pressure of performance under real- or self-imposed-time constraints. But in all these cases, for optimum performance, the outside world must be tuned to a minimum. And when this happens, the shooter is living in the moment. Which, as those who have experienced it can tell you, when completed is very relaxing, despite looking stressful.
So, if during this busy holiday season, you find yourself needing some relaxation, head to the range. Blow off some steam and make a joyous noise. You might find you restore some lost holiday cheer and maybe brought some personal shooting goals closer to achievement.

About the writer

Mike Lazarus
Military and Law Enforcement Veteran
FBI certified firearm instructor
MP5 and Sub Machine gun instructor
Defensive tactics instructor