Mental Health and the Zen of Archery I hadn’t held a bow and arrow in my hands since I was a nine-year-old at summer camp in upstate New York. But when I found myself on the archery course at the 800-year-old Ashford Castle in Mayo, Ireland, a few years before the pandemic, I exhibited such innate skill that the instructor began to call me Katniss Everdeen after the straight-shooting heroine of the best-selling series, The Hunger Games. Fast forward a few years to Camp Lucy , a Texas Hill Country resort with an elevated “camp” vibe, where I once again channeled Katniss’ warrior spirit with a graceful recurve bow.
And most recently, at the beautiful Bishop’s Lodge, Auberge Resorts Collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I picked up the heavier compound bow for the first time, and hit the bull’s-eye straightaway. Recurve bows are long, elegant and low-tech, and rely mostly on the strength of the archer. Nowadays, the recurve is often the bow of choice for recreational archery.
Compound bows are shorter and more compact. They feature a series of pulleys along with sophisticated mechanics that make them generally more popular for hunters. Though I’m not planning to sign on for Olympic training anytime soon, I was surprised to discover how much I love archery, on many levels, from simply being outdoors in the fresh air and hearing the satisfying thwack the arrow makes when it hits the target to how good it makes me feel—mentally, emotionally, physically.
Now, with the .