Posts Tagged ‘outdoors’

Why Archery Is The Intelligent Sport

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Archery requires flawless hand-eye coordination and a steady hand. In this situation, a steady hand does not come from not drinking alcohol, but by being so strong that the archer is not straining to draw the string and hold it while taking aim.

Rapid fire archery necessitates fast reflexes You could say that these qualities are desired for other objectives in general life and that may be a fact, but archery is the one sport that requires them all.

Shooting a gun accurately takes some of these skills too, but it does not need great strength and rapid fire is only a question of pulling the trigger or even holding it back. It is the case that when guns were developed, archers looked down on riflemen, because they did not require the same level of training to be good shots.

This is one of the main factors why guns took over from bows. It took 10-15 years to train a long bowman, but just a couple of weeks to train a rifleman. It was compulsory in England and Wales for all men and boys to practice with their longbows at the village butts on a Sunday where they were watched over and instructed by the local sheriff’s militia.

The long bowman was a respected figure, because everybody knew the commitment and skill it took to be an accurate archer. This was not merely a fact in Great Britain, but in each country in the world (except Australia) as far as we know.

Evidence of archery, but not the longbow, has been discovered everywhere from Europe to Asia and some of it goes back 12,000 years, which is a long time for a bit of timber to last, particularly when a broken bow would often have been a household item which could be used on the fire as fuel.

Prior to the proliferation of the bow, huntsmen and warriors used the atlatl (or woomera, in Aborigine Australian), which is a long, grooved stick used to hurl a one-metre long dart at almost 100 mph. There is proof that the atlatl was being used by Homo heidelbergensis 400,000 years ago in contemporary Germany.

The longbow and the flat bow were most frequently used in northern Europe where most soldiers walked into battle as only knights (nobility) had horses. On the other hand, in most other countries, where much of the fighting was done from horseback or from chariots, a shorter bow was used as it was less unwieldy and easier to move across the horse’s neck to shoot left and right.

The longbow and the flat bow were about six feet in length and had a typical draw weight of over 60 lbs but up to 100 lbs, which would fire a three-foot arrow up to 1,000 yards.

The shorter bows were recurve bows and although lighter to draw, it took a significant amount of ability to hit a target whilst travelling at speed on the back of a horse or bouncy chariot.

There are two ways of aiming any bow: by sight and by intuition. In sight shooting, the archer aims down the arrow and lines it up with the target allowing for distance, wind, movement etc, but in intuitive shooting, the archer just concentrates on the target. Intuitive shooting might come after lots of sight shooting practice.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with the Nerf n-Strike Stampede Blaster. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Smart Toys for Kids.

Advice For Fishing With A Bow and Arrow

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Archery fishing is also called bow fishing and it is as ancient as the bow and arrow themselves. We in the West tend to think that only poorer tribesmen in Third World countries go bow fishing, but that is not quite true.

These days the hunting of mammals is strictly controlled and so some people who like to hunt with a bow will switch to bow fishing if the animals that they like to pursue, say deer, are out of season. Some other people, who would not hunt a deer or bear are quite happy to hunt fish in this fashion.

Bow fishing is a skilled sport, but the paraphernalia need not of necessity be hi-tech. The fact is that you can use whatever bow you have or you can just make one. It does not have to be powerful, because the quarry is seldom more than ten feet away. You categorically do not have to have a 100 lbf longbow to kill a trout.

Having said that, any bow used for fishing will need to be adapted slightly - you will need to attach a reel to it, but it does not have to be anything fancy. There are three principal types of reel for use in bow fishing: hand-wrap, spincast and retriever and the line is usually braided nylon of approximately eighty pounds although you might require six hundred pound breaking strain line for alligators or sharks.

It is worth checking out the regulations with regard to bow fishing in your country or state, because sometimes bow fishermen have to be licensed and sometimes getting that license involves having attended a safety course.

Some regions will even have by-laws regarding the kind of equipment you can use in bow fishing and of course, some fish have seasonal restrictions.

Bow fishing is a mixture of fishing and hunting, so you could have to learn some new skills like tying knots for example. You will need to be able to tie the line to the reel and the arrow and those knots will need to be able to put up with the tremendous acceleration that an arrow leaving a bow goes through without failing.

The bow may not be different much from a normal bow, but the arrows certainly do. Arrows for bow fishing are usually a lot more substantial that air-flight arrows. They also have barbed tips to stop the fish escaping or just dropping off when you reel it in. The arrows do not have fletching either because flights are apt to deflect the true course of the arrow in water - the opposite of in the air.

There are three main techniques used in bow fishing: 1] you can put down ground bait and lie in wait. - an over hanging tree or high rock is good for this; 2] you can float down stream in a dinghy while sitting or standing in the prow; 3] you can walk into the river like a salmon fisherman.

Compensating for the refraction of the water is the most difficult ability to learn and that means knowing the water well too.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several topics, but is presently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Mini Remote Controlled Helicopters Are Fantastic Gifts

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

If you are ever stuck for a gift for someone, consider a mini remote controlled helicopter. They sound very expensive and a decade ago they almost certainly were, but they have come down a great deal in cost. I am sure that you will be surprised to know that you can buy a mini radio controlled helicopter for about $30.

What type of RC helicopter can you buy for $30?, you may be asking yourself. Something powered by rubber bands? Well, no, you would be surprised. Contemporary mini radio controlled helicopter have three electric motors. Two of these electric motors drive twin large rotors on top of the helicopter and one drives the rear rotor.

Three micro motors provide plenty of power for these small, 20 centimeter (eight inch) wonders. They are very light, weighing merely a couple of ounces, although they are of metal construction, so they are not as fragile as you might think. Despite the strength of these mini radio controlled choppers, they are subject to air currents, so they are principally for indoor use.

Having said that these micro radio controlled helicopter are primarily for use indoors, you can play with them outside on a fine day, because the signals from the RC transmitter will carry for around 30 feet.

The rechargeable battery in the chopper will drive six or seven minutes of sustained flight. That does not appear long, but the battery can be recharged very easily in 30 minutes.

The batteries in the micro radio controlled helicopters can be charged by three methods: by mains electricity with the AC charger or via the USB cable that is delivered with the chopper. This USB cable will plug into any computer and even into the hand set transmitter and take enough power to fly your helicopter again.

The hand set normally takes four AA batteries, which themselves may be of the rechargeable type in order to hold costs down as low as possible. The transmitter has three channels to control the flight of your mini remote controlled helicopter: up and down; forwards and backwards and left and right. This permits you to place your micro helicopter through some pretty tight manoeuvres.

Two important parts of the innards of the micro remote controlled helicopter are the 32-step speed controller and the gyroscope. The speed controller and the gyroscope automatically coordinate the pitch and speed of the rotors to make flight more stable.

These are great technological devices which make flying the mini radio controlled helicopter easier without detracting from the skill required to fly it in the correct manner.

There is no need to worry about crashing, because there is a full range of spares for the majority of model helicopters - you can purchase everything from spare rotors to motors and batteries. These mini remote controlled choppers are entry-level remote controlled playthings, but are great fun for individuals of all ages.

Flying a mini remote controlled helicopter is also a decent way of finding out whether you would like to take up flying larger radio controlled choppers later on

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with the Gyro Helicopter S107. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Smart Toys for Kids.

Growing Your Intuition Inside Nature

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Then you will most likely discover with your intuition that just after a while your attention will usually fade from this internal sensation and that you will usually be drawn to another inner sensation. Simply visit this feeling and be with it. Follow the inner sensations throughout your body. Similar to a dance of feeling inside your system. Heading off from one place to another.

As you practice this internal heading off with the senses you will notice that you naturally begin to feel more within your body. That your body starts to get up and that you begin to enter a rich dimension of internal feeling. Much like another dimension opening up.

You are able to actively heighten these sensations within your body deeper by feeling into them. As you start to be conscious of a sensing yourself inside your system, start to note the subtle textures inside this sensation of yourself. Then picture that you are breathing into this sensation within yourself with each in breath. That while you breathe in to the sensation the sensation expands and grows. As you breathe in the sensation gets to be more extreme, that you can feel more of the feeling as you breathe into the feeling. Permitting the feeling to develop and expand on each breath you take in. Feeling more of all the sensations inside your body on each in breath.

While you tap in deeper into this world of inner feeling and notice a lot more of the texture and subtle nuances you can then heighten your sense of feeling even more. You are able to do that by starting to explore how the dimension around you interacts and is connected to your inner feeling dimension.

For example, as you start you are able to then start to start to be conscious of how and where external stimuli feels inside your system. When you do that you will start to start to be aware of the way it feels to sit below the shade of a tree and where inside your system you feel these sensations. Similar to when you are standing on a mountain top. How and exactly where you’re feeling this inside your system. Rather than how and exactly where you feel when you are beside a stream at the bottom of a valley. You’ll begin to note how and where the dimension external of one’s sense of self feels within.

For example, discover exactly where and the way it feels to deepen your intuition within your system whenever you look in the green leaves of the tree. Then notice exactly where and the way this feels different whenever you look at the blue sky. And where and the way this feels different when you glance at leaves on your forest floor.

Learn the way you can allow your intuition take you through your numerous life stages.

Use These Relaxation Techniques In The wilderness

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

With relaxation just start becoming aware of the different sounds inside your body. In the inner sounds. Spend a while being with the internal sounds inside the body.

Next, shift your focus to pay attention towards the sounds immediately outdoors of your self. To the sounds close for you. Firstly become conscious in the sounds in front of you. Then to your right. Behind you. To your left and once more in front of you. Like you are sending a radar around you that’s picking up and starting to be conscious of the instant sounds around you. Maybe you can hear a little bird in front of you. The rustle of the bush towards the left. Maybe a different type of bird right behind you. And a few leaves of the tree blowing within the wind towards the left.

Becoming aware in the immediate sounds bordering you in all directions.

I then shift my attention to also become aware of the sounds happening up above me. Perhaps there is another type of bird calling overhead of me. Or perhaps differing types of leaves rustling within the wind. I then invest a few moments simply being with all of the immediate sound forms surrounding me. Like a sphere of sound surrounding me in all directions.

Next I actively intend to push my listening outwards whilst maintaining a sense of relaxation. I begin to shift my focus around the sounds taking place a long way away from me. Around the distant sound forms. Maybe the sound of a crow in the distance in front of me. Or even the shrill of an eagle soaring within the sky high overhead. Or perhaps the dull rumble of traffic in the distance to my left. I simply aim to push the sphere of sound surrounding me outwards. To push the restriction of my hearing outwards to include as many sounds as I can about me. Actively pushing the restriction of my listening.

As soon as I have pushed the restriction of my hearing outwards in all directions, I then pay attention to the patterns inside the wilderness. To the natural rhythm in the sounds within nature. For example if you’re near water at both dawn or dusk you will probably notice numerous differing frog calls. And you will most likely discover there is a rhythm the frogs croak at. Maybe you will discover the deeper calls from one species is in time with all of the higher pitched calls of an additional species.

Or maybe if it is windy you will start to note the wind may be coming through the land in gusts. And the rhythm in the sounds in the trees as the wind arrives. And the way when the gust of wind begins to drop that the sound in the leaves starts to soften. A natural rhythm within the leaves, in tune with the organic rhythm in the wind.

Discover how to dwell much in a state of relaxation and melt into the land.

How you can Discover Inner Peace By Staring At Flowers

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

This state of no tension and inner peace inside both your body and mind allows for a deeper link with the land.

To deepen your connection even further with the land about me I will spend a little of time doing the tree meditation. To complete the tree meditation I’ll shut my eyes and place my focus and awareness on the soles of my feet. For example, if I’m standing on sand by the seaside I will really feel what the sand is like against the skin around the soles of my feet. I will feel the subtle textures and how the tiny grains of sand are smooth against my body. Or when the sand is wet how the wetness of the sand feels next to the skin in the bottom of my feet.

Or perhaps if I’m standing on dry sticks and leaves, I’ll really feel what it is like to have a few of the sharp twigs push against and dig in to the skin on the soles of my feet. Feeling the subtle nuances of the textures against the soles of my feet. How my forefeet feels in contrast to exactly where my heel touches the earth. Compared to the arches of my feet. Sensing the contact of my feet against the earth.

Once you are aware of this pressure and also have invested a couple of moments sensing and connecting with your sensations next to the soles of your feet, you can then imagine what it is like to shoot roots down through your feet. A lot like how a tree experiences the earth. Imagine what it’s like to send roots down through the topsoil, through the underlying clay layers, around the rocks within the earth below your feet until you reach the underlying bed rock below exactly where you are standing.

Feel the way it would be to be linked with the earth beneath. Roots sent deeply into the earth. Feel the solidness of this. The groundedness of becoming rooted inside the earth. Just as you imagine a tree feels.

Whenever you have explored this feeling of being grounded by sending roots down through the soil layers, next locate your focus onto the body. You will probably discover there’s a slight sway happening with your body. A lot similar to the way a tree will sway gently within the wind. Just be with this mild swaying and permit your body to sway and gently rock the way in which it moves. Being with the groundedness within the root connection with the earth, and becoming the swaying link up in the sky. Being to the earth below and connecting with the sky above. The solid rootedness and also the swaying sky connection.

When in this state of inner peace you’ll notice there’s a center point. A location in your feeling that is at the middle of being grounded with the earth below and connected with the sky above. For many individuals this really is around their heart middle. Symbolically this level represents walking on the earthly plane. Strolling together with your heart along the earth whilst also getting grounded with the earth below and linked with the spirit of the sky overhead. Being within this center place whilst linked both overhead and below is a good spot to be in your heart stroll.

Living inside the wilderness allows you to get a perception of inner peace and also to find your genuine self in nature.

Finding Your Intuition Whist In Modern Civilization

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

After spending a few moments performing the tree intuition meditation, you will get a perception in the link through the soles of one’s feet towards the earth beneath. In the same time you’ll have a sense in the link of the sky overhead. And you’ll also obtain a sense of link with being on the earthly plane. Just as you stroll throughout the land you can consciously shift your focus from being connected to the earth beneath you, to the elements about you and also the spirit above you. With constant application you can also tap in to the perception of becoming linked with all three states while you walk. This brings about a deeper consciousness of exactly where you are at any moment in time.

While you leave the location of the tree meditation, you can deepen your consciousness and drop further into the link with the land by the way you place your feet on the land as well as the pace at which you stroll along the land.

For example, while you walk you can visualize the soil you stroll on is mother earth’s skin. A lot like our skin. The top layer of soil is the earth’s skin.

Notice that as you stroll, mother earth will feel your feet against her skin. A lot like how we really feel an insect walk across our skin. So as you walk you can see that with every step you’re taking you’re massaging mother earth. Likewise, she is massaging your feet back again. With every foot movement she is touching all the pressure locations and meridian lines in the soles of one’s feet. A mutual massage backwards and forwards in between you and mother earth. Strolling within this way can make you more aware of the impact of one’s footsteps have along the earth.

As you walk, also become aware in the tempo you’re walking at. Much like the yellow flowers that would open at sunrise and shut again at sunset, we all have our organic rhythm. Be aware as you walk, feel what it’s feeling like to stroll at your organic rhythm. At a tempo that feels just right for you personally. Drop into this natural tempo and really feel how it feels to become walking at your organic pace. It usually seems like there’s no tension inside the body when you are strolling at your organic tempo. Additionally, you will probably notice that you will start to slow down more when you drop into your organic pace.

When you really feel you’ve tapped into your intuition and strolling at your natural tempo, then experiment by consciously strolling a bit faster than your natural tempo and notice how this feels within your body. Usually you’ll discover a degree of tension within your body when you walk quicker than your natural pace. Then consciously walk a bit slower than your natural tempo and feel how this feels inside your body.

Your intuition will take you to remarkable experiences if you allow it to be in your lifestyle.

Getting into Enlightenment By Silencing Your Mind

Friday, January 20th, 2012

I find when many people come out in to the forest this nearly habitual method of looking at the planet is carried over. For the most part, when individuals go into the wilderness on a hike they will be staring a couple of meters in front of them at the path they’re strolling down. Plus they also miss out on the lot of what’s taking place about them. Missing the experience of what’s around them in the wilderness.

To heighten a sense of being in a feeling of enlightenment you are able to do a straightforward concentrating exercise within nature. For example, as you look around, try and focus on 1 element inside nature for approximately two seconds. Then look and concentrate on another element for 2 seconds. And another for 2 seconds. Focusing on the elements within the wilderness both close to you and a long way away. Concentrating for 2 seconds on an object and then moving onto an additional object. Keep on performing this for a minute or so and notice how this feels.

You will probably discover a sense of tension within your thoughts and that it requires quite intense work to become continually focusing on objects inside the wilderness. The rationale for this really is that around one third of our brain is equipped to interpret the visible perceptions that we are taking in. And it is known that we use as much power once we are thinking as when we are strolling, no wonder it takes some work to be continuously targeted in this method of taking a look at the planet.

Nevertheless indigenous individuals possess a totally different and much more relaxed way of looking at the world. In this mode they’re in a position to absorb a great deal more of their surroundings. Rather of becoming focused on one point, they instead take in a larger realm of eyesight.

They spend about 90% of their time being in their peripheral vision and only about 10% of the time seeing the world in focused eyesight. This allows them to perceive a larger visual area and take in more motion. Taking in more of one’s surroundings by utilizing your peripheral vision does not use as much effort as the continual focusing we are taught in contemporary civilization.

In order to go into your peripheral eyesight and enter into a state of enlightenment, first of all pick a location towards the horizon which you really feel drawn to. Then rather than focusing on that point, consciously relax your facial muscles, especially the muscles around your eyes. Let the stress inside your facial muscles to drop towards the ground. As your facial muscles unwind your gaze will then begin to soften. Allow your gaze to melt on that location you had been drawn to. You will then begin to go into peripheral vision as you unwind your facial muscle tissues and soften your gaze.

You can uncover a sense of enlightenment within the town with these methods.

Inner Peace And Calm Is Saw Inside Nature

Friday, January 20th, 2012

This really is how it is to ‘be with’ a state of inner peace within nature. Being with what it actually is you’re being with. Inside a state of innocence. This is when your state of current reality begins to slow down. Once the present moment starts to turn out to be an eternity. When time begins to distort and you begin sensing there’s no separation in between yourself and an additional being. You’ll likely also begin to see that what blocks becoming within the current moment is what happens within your mind. And you will also most likely begin to see that this way of being is usually there and just waiting around for you personally to drop into once more.

This experience of being with is a powerful way to enter your heart stroll. You will see a great deal more detail in the messages that the wilderness is eager to tell you. You’ll begin to discover you are able to see your whole current life inside a leaf. The phrase ‘leaf’ being but an additional label.

As soon as you are out of your mind and into a sense of inner peace, the following phase in the heart walk would be to get into your senses. To get out of your thoughts and come to your senses. For this allows for your doorway into the spiritual realm to open up. To raise the veil in to the spiritual dimension.

You do that by heightening every of your five senses.

Conventional indigenous people who reside with the wilderness on the land have heightened and highly tuned senses. They require these heightened senses to make sure they are in a position to live. For instance they need a big field of vision to make sure they are in a position to pick up the subtle movements of game. They require a extremely tuned sense of what they hear in order to pick up the distant sounds of animals and birds. The necessity is to have a highly tuned sense of scent to pick up subtle scents of trails and animals in the distance. Similarly with their taste and the sense of feeling.

Once the 5 predominant senses are extremely tuned we will then turn out to be more attuned towards the sixth sense. Towards the spiritual sense. Towards the power that moves us. Towards the synchronicities, messages and symbols the creator is continually providing us through nature. We are able to then tap into these messages to obtain our life path and clarity on our purpose, in addition to where we must be able to go and what we are to complete at each moment in time.

So the first spot to begin entering in to the spiritual dimension is by heightening each of one’s 5 senses.

Discover inner peace inside the wilderness and learn how to drop tension.

Internal Calm And Enlightenment

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Within a state of enlightenment I’d begin to notice a slight breeze against my pores and skin and once more will be grateful for the wind because of how it cools the hot summer time days and allows the smells from upwind to come to me.

Or I might begin to notice the leaf litter beneath my toes. And I might begin to become grateful for the softness along the soles of my feet, that it is breaking down to provide nutrients for the trees around me as well as providing shelter along with a home for the little bugs, grubs and insects that live within the leaf litter.

After being grateful for the issues around me in the wilderness for a few minutes I find that my internal sense of the way I experience the world shifts. That I feel much more uplifted. I am reminded that regardless of what occurs in my life that at any second there’s something to become grateful for.

After placing energy into the intention of experiencing enlightenment and getting into an attitude of gratitude I then will then start to connect even deeper to the earth. First of all I find it’s best to go bare foot as this will usually deepen your connection with the land. However, it’s stress that blocks this link. The stress both within your body and within your mind.

So after getting into an attitude of gratitude, simply scan along the body and become aware of any tension within your system. Then similar to dropping a stone towards the earth, drop this stress to mother earth. Mother earth can use this tension where she needs to.

When letting go of stress I have observed it can help many people to simply pick up a stone and experience what it’s like to hold on strongly to your stone and then physically permit it to drop towards the earth. The participants are able to then use this feeling of letting go of a stone in a similar way to letting go of their own stress by dropping the tension within their physique to the earth. Additionally, it assists to know that mother earth can use this tension where she must, such as resisting the force on her skin of cyclones or resisting the erosive effects of a waterfall against her or maybe helping her keep together when an earthquake is happening. I discover dropping stress works ideally on the out breath since you are actively dropping the stress within your body.

After you have dropped the tension within the body, next scan throughout your mind for any other stress. Your contemplating mind frequently produce a level of stress, particularly across the very front of one’s forehead. So simply scan through your mind for any tension. Then similar to letting go of rock, allow the stress within your mind to drop towards the earth. Once more, this really is best done on the out breath.

You are able to discover a sense of enlightenment within the city with these methods.