• Breath control is a component or an accurate and consistant shot.rifleman image by Indigo Fish from Fotolia.com
  
  Excellent shooting or marksmanship skills require the ability of the shooter to remain as relaxed and still as possible when actively taking a shot. Learning breath control techniques and shooting within the confines and rhythms of your natural breathing patterns can ensure the ability to take a reliable, consistent and accurate shot.
  
  

Breath Awareness

• Get to know your breathing patterns through practice sessions.backside wiev of female shooter taking aim image by fotosergio from Fotolia.com
  
  Become aware of your natural breathing patterns. Take notice of your day to day breathing patterns and any changes that occur to those patterns when you are shooting. Schedule practice sessions at an indoor or outdoor range to increase the awareness of natural breathing patterns. You might discover that you naturally breathe in rapid short breaths or that you tend to breathe slowly. It is also wise to note how you breathe in the seconds prior to pulling the trigger. If you tend to hunt at altitudes higher or lower than those where you live, make different altitude breathing awareness another consideration and exercise. You may have to force yourself during practice to focus on the breath instead of the shot.
  
  

Breath Control

• Breathing control is beneficial for many activities and sports.battle image by Wd Photo from Fotolia.com
  
  Yoga breathing techniques may not be common knowledge to the average weekend hunter, but learning and practicing them may help you take a relaxed and reliable shot without the interference of irregular or unregulated breathing. Yoga breathing practices include the ability to move your breath to and from different areas of your diaphragm. You can learn to take extremely deep therapeutic breaths or short, shallow but beneficial breaths. The short breaths are akin to those used in the breathing-down technique described by USA Shooting Coach Frank Cornell in his Junior Shooters article (see Resource below).
  
  Yoga breathing combines the ability to be aware of your breathing patterns and to control breath if you choose to do so. Yoga breathing exercises are well explained on the web pages of Gaiam Life or Health and Yoga Info.
  
  

Breathing Down

• Breathing down is a breathing technique currently in vogue for coaching precision shooters. When done correctly it enables you to amp down your breathing capacity prior to taking a shot. You should breathe in slightly less air in each of a designated number of breaths. Coach Frank Cornell recommends taking three or four breathing down breaths prior to taking the shot. More can cause slight dizziness. The technique helps you lower your blood pressure and heart rate allowing your body to be as still as possible when taking a shot.