The idea behind visualization is to imagine or create a mental image of yourself succeeding. By repeating this process over and over again, the visualized success becomes ingrained in your subconscious and then when you actually go out onto the course, field, or court, you are able to repeat this success. The practice of visualization is de rigueur in all sports and certainly has its place in archery.

Before going to the range, and even before each shot, picturing yourself making a perfect shot and the arrow hitting the bull's-eye can be an effective way to improve your accuracy. Jack Nicklaus, the legendary golfer, described making each shot in his mind before actually swinging the club. This past winter I watched as the world's best skiers, preparing for the Olympic Downhill, visualized each turn and jump in their mind before their runs. You could see them with their eyes closed, head weaving, as they tucked and turned their way down the imaginary course.

Visualization is proven to be effective, but can it cure target panic? I had an opportunity to test its effectiveness on myself several years ago. I was mired in an awful case of target panic; so bad that I nearly gave up the sport. I had tried other possible cures, but nothing worked. So I turned my attention to visualization. I read the aforementioned books and had used visualization successfully in other areas of my life, and felt relatively sure it could help me.

I gave it an honest effort. I spent two weeks playing "a movie in my mind"? of me calmly and confidently shooting my bow with no target panic. And it actually worked... for a few exciting minutes, but soon I was back to shooting with that terrible urge to release too soon.

I desperately wanted to cure my target panic, but much to my disappointment visualization only worked for a short time. I tried visualizing before each shot, but the urge to release the arrow was just too strong. The habit of releasing the arrow was too established to change through focused imagination.

Perhaps if I would have spent two months or more doing only visualization without shooting my bow, then maybe I would have experienced more success, but I firmly believed it would take something completely different"?a novel approach to rid myself of the problem. Ultimately, I cured my target panic with a technique called the Push Release.