I shoot with the local SCA, but they don't really know much about this.
Youtube have several people that goes through the techniques. Justin Ma and his buddies spent time reconstructing the techniques from Gou Ying's late-Ming manual on traditional Chinese _military_ archery. The core techniques are available for free on Youtube, and the rest of it is in a book called _Way of Archery_. I think Justin Ma is based out in Bay Area so you might be able to find out where they shoot. Armin Hirmer also has a number of youtube resources (with variant techniques), and a large library of reviews for bows.
The key thing with Justin Ma's videos is that they focus on the form. I took it to mean that accurate shooting is a byproduct of good form -- from the draw, to the release. The biggest initial hurdle is in contacting the rhomboids and lats to provide the power to draw. The key to the thumb draw is that, you are trading off being able to distribute the load to multiple fingers with having a very clean release; meaning, if your thumb release is not clean, it's an anti-pattern.
Most of my practice is with the gaozhen -- shooting at about 1 - 3 yard range, and focus mostly on good form. Other Asiatic archery traditions practice this way. I'm not there yet where everything draws smooth without me having to concentrate yet, but that's the goal. You can create a gaozhen in your own home if you got the space and can keep dependents away from them. (I saw a video of a guy practicing in his unfinished attic).
Keep in mind too, if you are looking at traditional Chinese archery, there were many schools (all thumb draw), with different goals. Confucian archery, for example, is ritualistic. The Manchus have a strong hunting tradition that became a part of their military techniques.
Facebook has a group of traditional archery enthusiasts. I would also be glad to talk about what you would need to get started and the gotchas I had to overcome. (Example: most Western archers don't know that arrow weight, not just spine, matters for these bows) Feel free to contact me if you want to continue talking about this.
My practices have been a slow, minor realizations of non-duality.
You ever read the Neko no Myojutsu, or the Tengu’s Sermon on the Martial Arts?
In the meantime, I have been working on archery in the context of internal martial arts (yijinjing principles). I have no idea what that will look like, but it will be interesting to find out.
Among my goals are being able to walk and shoot, and shoot from different postures.
Youtube have several people that goes through the techniques. Justin Ma and his buddies spent time reconstructing the techniques from Gou Ying's late-Ming manual on traditional Chinese _military_ archery. The core techniques are available for free on Youtube, and the rest of it is in a book called _Way of Archery_. I think Justin Ma is based out in Bay Area so you might be able to find out where they shoot. Armin Hirmer also has a number of youtube resources (with variant techniques), and a large library of reviews for bows.
The key thing with Justin Ma's videos is that they focus on the form. I took it to mean that accurate shooting is a byproduct of good form -- from the draw, to the release. The biggest initial hurdle is in contacting the rhomboids and lats to provide the power to draw. The key to the thumb draw is that, you are trading off being able to distribute the load to multiple fingers with having a very clean release; meaning, if your thumb release is not clean, it's an anti-pattern.
Most of my practice is with the gaozhen -- shooting at about 1 - 3 yard range, and focus mostly on good form. Other Asiatic archery traditions practice this way. I'm not there yet where everything draws smooth without me having to concentrate yet, but that's the goal. You can create a gaozhen in your own home if you got the space and can keep dependents away from them. (I saw a video of a guy practicing in his unfinished attic).
Keep in mind too, if you are looking at traditional Chinese archery, there were many schools (all thumb draw), with different goals. Confucian archery, for example, is ritualistic. The Manchus have a strong hunting tradition that became a part of their military techniques.
Facebook has a group of traditional archery enthusiasts. I would also be glad to talk about what you would need to get started and the gotchas I had to overcome. (Example: most Western archers don't know that arrow weight, not just spine, matters for these bows) Feel free to contact me if you want to continue talking about this.