The Zen of Shooting - How can being present in the moment help you overcome challenges?
In this live YouTube session, host Brooke Cheney (referred to as SPEAKER A) and co‑host DJ explore how Zen principles—especially being fully present in the moment—can improve firearm safety, mental resilience, and overall well‑being. The talk opens with a stark reminder that two‑thirds of gun‑related deaths are suicides, framing the need for mindfulness as a preventive tool. Cheney defines Zen as a direct, non‑dogmatic experience of the present, contrasting it with common misconceptions that guns are merely outlets for anger. He draws parallels between Zen archery (the book Zen Bow, Zen Arrow) and shooting, emphasizing that over‑trying hinders performance while trusting the process enhances success. Practical micro‑meditation is demonstrated through a simple breath‑pause exercise, presented as an “itty‑bitty” meditation that can be applied anywhere—from shooting ranges to traffic jams. Personal anecdotes—including his background as an Olympic‑hopeful freestyle skier, the loss of his sister in a car accident, and his current 75 Hard‑style self‑improvement challenge—illustrate how presence helps process trauma and maintain focus. References to The Greatest Salesman in the World and the mantra “I will persist until I succeed” reinforce the theme of persistence through mindful practice. Throughout, the hosts engage with live chat participants, noting roll‑call names and sharing how breathing techniques aid their own workouts. The session concludes by urging listeners to notice “in‑between” moments—breath pauses, doorways, or the space between musical notes—as quick meditations that can re‑center the mind during stress, ultimately helping individuals overcome challenges.
Chapters
It says, it's so showtime. So fancy. Um, hello everyone. Everyone so far, I'm being Gwebs and Mike White. Uh, Mike White says good evening to everyone, and Gwebs is always good about hitting that thumbs up thing, uh, on YouTube side because that shows us it's YouTube side. And DJ is here with me, of course, and probably out in the gallery as well. I have no idea, we forget to talk about those things, but But it is Sue Server into Saturday. It is a little after 9:00. It's 9:01 versus 9 o'clock. So forgive me for my minute tardiness, but you know, DJ, I know we're chatting about life in general. So Sue Server into Saturday, tonight is the Zen of Shooting: How Being Present in the Moment Can Help You Overcome Challenges. So for those of you who don't know, I have a— oh wait, so why are we here? I can't forget that intro thing. Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths you hear about are suicide. So if we are looking to save lives from firearms, we should be focusing on suicide prevention. And I'm going to put that up in a minute, Mike. Oh, look at that, TJ's paying attention to other things too. We'll get this all together before we're all done, honestly. All right, so Zen of— the Zen of shooting. One of the things I found as a firearms person, regardless of whether I was an instructor or not, is that so many people would walk in like, oh, that must be so great for, you know, when you're angry and stuff and just go shoot stuff and that sort of thing. And it's just like, so many people equate guns with violence, and somehow people also equate violence with a form of release. And the reality of it is, for me, is that there's nothing violent about any of my firearms. Zen is the art of being present in the moment right now. And when you have a firearm in your hands, you really need to be present because it's the most important thing that's in your hands currently, because it can cause great harm should you not be present. So when people are like, oh, it must be so great to be able to go shooting whenever you want, you've got your own range and, you know, must be great. And I'm like, it is, but I have a feeling it's not for the same reason that everybody thinks that it is. So let's talk about Zen in case you are not aware. And let me see if I can do this and read a little bit of it because sometimes it's better in someone else's words than in my own. So What is Zen? It's both something we are, our true nature expressing itself moment by moment, and something we do, a disciplined practice through which we can realize the joy of being. It is not a belief system to which one converts. There's no dogma or doctrine. Zen is direct experience of what we might call ultimate reality or the absolute. It is not separate from the ordinary relative. All right, so not to go too far down the rabbit hole, but essentially for me, the art of Zen is being present right now. Not thinking about what you need to get done tomorrow, not wallowing in what you didn't get done yesterday, but the art of right now. Right now you are listening to or watching me, you are sitting or driving, or who knows, maybe you're on a treadmill, But what are you doing right this very instant? What's happening in this moment right now? For me, I'm listening to the dog chew on himself while talking to you guys, and it's warm in here, and I get to watch a little thing go across the thing that says, are you in crisis, text or talk? And that's what's happening right now. Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day, all moms. And tomorrow I will have guests, and tomorrow we will have a barbecue. But that's not zen. Zen is this moment. It's that breath that I just took. It's looking into the camera to look at you. It is listening to the dog get up and walk around. It's what's right now in our busy, crazy lives. It is very hard to find that moment, it seems. Sorry, the dog is right here now. Okay, come here. Yes, um, petting the dog, this is one of those stress reliever things. Yes, paying attention to— here, I have to show this, it's just so pretty. Such a handsome boy. I'm sorry, he's probably really blurry right now, but anyway, right now, this very moment, that is Zen. So how do we get to Zen? Well, First is to know what it is. It's being present in this moment. Second, you can learn more about it. Meditation is a big portion of that. Meditation does all sorts of things. And here's the funny thing, just like Zen, your, your definition of it comes from you reading or hearing about it and then deciding what it means to you. So Zen bow, Zen arrow. Is another book that I have read, and the short version of it is it talks about a Japanese master archer and how in the books— I read the book, so it's not exactly— but his teachings are basically, you see that the arrow hits the target, and then you allow the arrow to hit the target. And you're not trying. And here's the thing, it takes a little while to wrap your poor little brain around this idea, but the harder you try, whether it's shooting an arrow, firing a firearm, playing golf, learning a new skill, one of the things you may realize is that as you learn something, the harder you try the harder it usually gets. If you believe in the process of what you have learned and allow the process to happen, you are usually more successful than when we try really hard. And this is part of the art of Zen and the art of shooting, whether it's bow and arrow or firearms. It's being able to see. When I was a teenager, I was an Olympic hopeful in freestyle skiing. And one of the things that we always did was we would see our routine prior to our music starting, and we would practice it in our head, and we would replay it over and over and over again in our heads. Same thing with competitive shooting. We have a course of fire, we stand there, we close our eyes, we go through where our shots are being and when our reloads are and all of the things. Our brains don't know the difference of me actually running through it 100 times physically— my body certainly does, but my brain does not— versus me doing it just in my head. And that is being aware of what can happen. So all of that— why am I telling you about Zen bow, Zen arrow, the Zen of shooting? Well, because if you can find a way to become present even if it's for a moment. My favoritest meditation ever. Ready? You guys can do this all with me. Take a breath in. Let the breath out. Pause for a moment. Notice that there's a change between your breath out and your breath in. That momentary change is an itty-bitty mini meditation. And it's that easy. All you have to do is take a breath in, let it out, notice there's a pause before you take your next breath in. And if you start noticing the in-betweens, that's an itty-bitty meditation. And just like that, in the snap of a finger, in a single breath, you've learned another way to be currently present. And for a moment, you're focusing on that in-between, versus the dishes that need to be done versus laundry needs to be folded versus the paper that needs to be handed in versus whatever else is going on in your life. Um, so that is kind of that. Oh, all right, so what else am I doing? Zen Bow, Zen Arrow was one of my favorites. There is another one of my favorite books ever, and it is The Greatest Salesman in the World. And oddly enough, it's not really about sales, but it kind of is 'Cause our mental health, you and me, our mental health, we are the number one salesman to ourselves because the stuff we say to ourselves, we hear all day long. It does not matter how many amazing people tell us how amazing they think we are. It does not matter how many horrible people tell us how horrible we are all the time. What matters is what we believe and what we think we should be doing. So one of the things DJ and I were just talking about is I am currently working on myself with this road trip thing from Matthew McConaughey, working on how can I improve myself? How can I get happier? How can I have more joy in my life? How can I be a better person? How can I be more successful in with my family, with my husband, with my kids, with my mom, all of that sort of stuff. Because that Zen stuff is a big part of that. Finding that here and now is a big part of it. So, The Greatest Salesman in the World. One of the things in The Greatest Salesman in the World is this line: "I will persist until I succeed." And why is that so important? Well, the shortest version I can give you is you say that line 3 times a day for 30 days in a row, You say a lot more, but that's the short version. And so I will persist until I succeed. This is one of the things that I fear many people have lost in that they fail, they fall down, and they don't get back up. I don't think that's you. I don't. But I fear that there are many people out there that fall down, don't get back up, and they've forgotten to persist until they succeed. Just like people say, I can't meditate. But I just gave you like a 2-second thing where you're meditating and you didn't even know it, but you did for a moment. So I'm about to start 75 Hard, but only for 30 days because I can't reset mine to go to 75 days. So I am doing 30 days while I'm preparing for this. I am making sure that I figure out how do I succeed? How do I set myself up for success? What is my plan going to be? Now, here's the thing. I've given myself a hard start date of Monday, which is going to be the 15th of this month. And so I have time to plan, but then I just have to do. And that's kind of what Zen is. It's that moment where you're just allowing things to happen because you've already seen what is going to be. With that, I'm just looking at all my little notes here because I actually put notes up for you guys. So Zen and shooting, be present. The Zen while you're driving and traffic sucks, do that little instantaneous meditation of just notice your breath and the pause in between, and poof, that's a little slice of meditation for you. Super easy, super simple, and it should make a difference. Go ahead, do it again. Ready? Breathe in. Breath out, that pause. That's it. It doesn't have to be crazy. It doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't have to be an hour. You don't have to sit on a cushion with your knees bent in ways that some of us who are older should not have our knees bent. It can be as simple as that breath and becoming aware of that in-between. Who knows? You could start paying attention to the entire breath in and out, and you are becoming present for a little bit longer than the in-between. And build on that. So that is my goal for the rest of this, this week between now and when I see you again next Saturday. And I don't know what next Saturday's is, but I'll look next week and I'll let y'all know. Wait a second. Sorry. I just saw Clover Tax. I do that while I do my plank and hangs for the day. It really helps get through the workout. All right. So yeah, when I read it, when it was really small next to the the screen here. I thought it said you do it while you do my, my planks, and I'm like, what are you doing to your plants that you are hanging for the day? So, um, I'm assuming when he says I do that too is the breathing part or just being totally present. Um, I am— I have not— I'm not doing planks right now, nor do I hang, but I am looking forward to someday that I can actually do a pull-up. That's like one of my ultimate goals is to actually be able to be strong enough and light enough to do a pull-up. So, um, all right, so yeah, just so Clover Tech lets me know for sure, focus breathing. So yes, it is, it's amazingly simple to do little things. Unfortunately, I think we're often bogged down by the details. I know I go in the weeds and I get caught with trying to do it just so and perfectly and just right and oh wait, there's another way to do this, maybe I should try that. And like I tell my students, 'cause I'm usually telling myself the same thing I'm trying to tell my students is pick one thing, work on that one thing, and then if you've got it done for a bit, then worry about trying to find another way, but just pick one. All right, so with that, Mr. DJ, do you wanna do a roll call for moi? Since I'm trying to pay attention.
Absolutely. The last person in the room on the YouTube side, that is, you'll pick up the, uh, the other side for me, is CloverTac. Also, Mike White was in here tonight, so was G23. And every week we see gun websites out there in the crowd. There are others, they're just not self-identifying as listeners right now.
Oh well, Woods popped in at the very last moment. Um, and yeah, I do not see anybody over on the Facebook side, at least not so far this evening. Um, but that's kind of it. So anyway, what, uh, what other things do we have, Mr. DJ? Anything else?
Well, there's going to be something that I'm gonna— I was gonna toss out into the text chat, and I guess I will go ahead and put that in there now, but it's just for you, it's not for the regular broadcast folks. Um, but I did have this earlier on. I said that sometimes music is the space between the notes, and it really is. When you think about that, everything is going to be interdependent in our lives to some degree, and I don't think that often We think about things in those simple terms, those very present terms. And sometimes it is the pause between the notes. That's the part that you pay attention to.
So, yeah, absolutely. Um, when I was doing my little self-help workbook here thing, uh, one of the things it asks is, what do you want more of? Or there was another thing like, what do you enjoy? And I'm just like, huh, what do I enjoy?. And one of the things I realized was dance, like dancing. Oh wait, I got one. I got one from the Facebook side. It's Hector. Hector and I have been discussing olive oil, but it's really funny if you go on the Facebook thing. But anyway, it is lots of fun to think about music movement. Part of the 75 Hard stuff is just do more movement. Breathing, I think, has been the easiest, quickest hack to finding that in-between space, that moment like you're talking about with the, in between the music, in between the notes. And it's just like, there's lots of in-between. And it's very, for me at least, it was very calming to find that in-between.
So, and how rarely things are absolute black and white, we may feel that they are, but it is in all of those gray tones. That most of us exist, and wisely so. When we try to act too much in extremes, that's sometimes when we find ourselves overextended into that which we do not honestly know all that well, we find.
Oh, go ahead.
I say Mike White has found one of his Zen places. He says that when I'm cleaning my guns, I find it's my Zen and happy place. And that's an example for me, not wishing to speak for Mike, where It's a very controlled environment. The things that you were, the time that you spend, the things that you have assembled, the way that you go about doing it, that's a nice place to be in charge, to find the rhythm of what it is that you want to get the desired results. It still takes practice, mind you, all of those things together.
Well, it's, my mouse was actually over that, 'cause I'm like, I knew that I said, oh, I'll get back to that. So my mouse was about to click on that for real. So, uh, oh yeah, sorry, I'm gonna pull this one up. I'm glad I duck hunt because those waders really come in handy when DJ talks. He's way too deep for me. To be fair, I've been duck hunting, not with— I, I just got to go along and sit in the blind and sleep, but I've been duck hunting and we didn't have to have waders.. But it is, it is always fun. All right. Well, gentlemen and ladies, because I'm sure Fiona is going to watch the replay and, and Tara. And so I'll just assume, pretend like they're already here anyway. So I think that is everything. Take that breath. Notice the in-between spaces. Doorways are another in-between space. Seriously, like as you walk from one room to another, take a pause for a moment and realize that you're in the in-between space. And that there's a pause, there's that moment in between, and that can be your itty-bitty meditation and grow from there. Being aware of what's happening right now, and this is where, um, the full, uh, whatever it is, title of this, how being present in the moment can help you overcome challenges. When we are stressed, when we are upset about something that is happening or has happened or you're waiting to happen, If you can come to right now, it really helps you put whatever that thing is into perspective, no matter how upsetting it is. And I'll go back to when we lost my sister in a car accident and we asked, what's good about this? And even though we're not going to find something immediately necessarily, it gives your mind pause to be like, okay, what is really happening right now? What could this mean? Those are the things that I'm going to leave you with tonight. And hi and bye to CNT, because we're all done, sir. But we will see you next week. Have a great night, have a great weekend, and see y'all next
