Wayfinder Archery aids in the cultivation of self development, awareness, and transformation via Traditional Archery, and the art of Instinctive Shooting. Inspiring dedication and commitment to reverence for ourselves, one another and our world through traditional skills and being with
the natural world.
“Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience.
It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person"
- FRED BEAR
ABOUT WAYFINDER ARCHERY & FOUNDER MIKHEL NESHAT
Wayfinder Archery is a Traditional Archery Education Company that provides basic and fundamental knowledge in instinctive shooting, development of a relationship with the bow & arrow, and a platform to transform your relationship to yourself & nature.
Founder Mikhel Neshat hails from the Motherland of Austin, Texas, though California has been her home for 16 years. In 2014, she was introduced to Traditional Archery, specifically recurve bows, via a long-term big game traditional bowhunter and bowyer steeped in Traditional Archery and hunting. He and his hunting buddy of 20+ years, an avid vintage bow collector and excellent trad hunter, aided Mikhel in entering the world of Traditional Archery. Mikhel was encouraged by one of them to begin teaching at an all-women’s skill gathering in 2018, which shifted the course of her life, eventually leading to the birth of Wayfinder Archery.
Mikhel brings a special twist to the Archery Range via her tracking skills and insights of the human psyche & body language, paired with some damn fine instinctive and intuitive abilities. She’s known to shoot straight from the heart and holds herself to the standards she encourages in others. She cherishes clean & pure water, sunlight, the natural world, high-quality food and company, authenticity, conscious breathing, and reverence & responsibility.
Wayfinder Archery cultivates an environment to know thyself via the practice of shooting arrows with great intention, awareness, and discipline. Traditional Archery has been a hunting, warfare, and Zen practice of many lineages for thousands of years. Mikhel offers education in regards to traditional archery & instinctive shooting basics, equipment knowledge and care, hunting awareness, proper form, range etiquette & safety, and acknowledgment of the lineage line of Ishi of the Yana-Yahi tribe to the current day Traditional Archery influences. Wayfinder brings people together to remember who they are through the power of presence, embodiment, breath, nature, yielding weapons well, good ole’ fashion humor, authenticity, and high-quality company.
ABOUT OUR Pathways of Education
All skill levels are welcome on the Range. Whether you are beginning your relationship with the bow & arrow, or want to expand and develop your skill set, Mikhel welcomes everyone with strong energy, great humor, and epic fun & insight. Through mindful form, a steady stance, precision focus, a clear mind, and an open heart, Wayfinder Archery provides a space of self-discovery, embodiment, power, and authenticity via the art of shooting arrows.
One of Mikhel’s strong suits is to aid everyone in embodying their epic archery form. A clear delivery of archery principles combined with her absorbable teaching methods leads to solid instinctive shooting form. Alongside the principles and methods she guides her students with, she also brings a unique and uncommon teaching element to the table, somatic awareness combined with an instinctive understanding of the human psyche and heart.
Mikhel has an uncanny ability to tap into people's “internal form” which can strongly affect external archery form, offering a type of internal archery guidance. This guidance can aid in transforming the way you physically shoot, right then and there. It can also aid in deeper levels of overall transformation. Our body and mind are ruled by our beliefs and relationship to self, therefore an awareness and a perspective shift can greatly affect how we carry ourselves, hold a bow, connect with our body, etc. That shift allows us more ability to sink into the present moment, which changes the game in regards to our Traditional Archery experience, and our life experience.
To aim accordingly requires proper form, alignment, awareness, and tapping into flow state. The principles that instinctive shooting invites us to experience and develop can be applied to our metaphorical “internal archery form.” We must recalibrate any form (beliefs, behaviors, patterns, habits), alignment (willingness, commitment, priorities, focus,), awareness (slow & steady, consistency, remembrance,) and internal presence required to hit the “mark” or “bullseye” in our lives.
Whether you attend a workshop, host a private event, rock a private lesson, or find us at a skills gathering, we begin everyone off with a mandatory class. The class sets the tone for group symbiosis, education and responsibility, getting into the headspace and zone of weapon wielding and embodiment, and engagement and development of self reflection and self awareness. For unique events, we offer open range without requirement of the mandatory class, providing a simplified, less education rich experience.
The mandatory class includes a bit of traditional archery history, what traditional archery is, the fundamentals & basics of instinctive shooting, hunting information, equipment knowledge and care, proper form, and range etiquette & safety. Once class ends, we find the best bow and arrow fit for each person, go over range etiquette and safety, ground into proper form, and begin shooting on the range together. As range practice commences, Wayfinder’s team offers guidance and oversight to ingrain proper form into one’s mind and body enabling a “dropping into” oneself more fully. As we engage in lots of exciting shooting practice and experience, confidence is effortlessly gained.
Philosophy on Presence
Substances & Alcohol
Wayfinder Archery creates a drug, alcohol, and tobacco-free zone for the entirety of our events. We immensely value embodiment and the power to stay as present as possible. In a time where disassociation is rampant within ourselves and our world, we encourage and invite everyone to practice sobriety while being with us, staying available to feel, heal, and deal with whatever is arising. As well, it is VERY important to us to keep our weapons range and general space safe, protected, and crystal clear energetically.
Pathways of Education
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Inner Terrain Coaching
Mikhel offers in-person and online sessions that aid in the exploration and discovery of the inner terrain of our minds, hearts, & bodies via discussion and presence. The power of vulnerability, curiosity, presence, authenticity, intuitive insightfulness, willingness, witnessing, and the desire to grow and change shared between two people can lead to powerful shifts of perception and awareness. When we shift our perception, even in the smallest of ways, significant course corrections and/or openings are able to occur within ourselves and lives. Inner Terrain sessions can be combined with Traditional Archery lessons and personal practice(s), giving a tangible form to experience shifts, awareness, and healthy habit building.
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Skills Gatherings
Skills Gatherings are held all over the planet, the ones in North America usually fall under the category of Co-ed or Women’s only. These gatherings are often a mix of hard and soft skills, depending on the gathering.
Hard skills= all the earth based skills our ancestors lived so they could thrive on our home planet. Soft skills- all the inner skills needed to live in harmony with our psyches, bodies, and one another. These gatherings can be incredibly powerful and fun, activating our remembrance to our indigenous hearts and lineages, our relationship with nature, larger community and relations, all while experiencing the fun and enjoyment of learning new skills. Wayfinder Archery can be found holding down the range at various skills gatherings throughout the year. Check out our calendar to find out which ones we will be attending, and the Explore page to be in the know of the various ones that exist.
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Traditional Archery Pathways
Workshops offer ½ day to multi-day participation. Traditional Archery is the baseline of all the events along with variations such as archery only, inclusion of a skill share(s), womens only, co-ed, youth only, and immersion style. Immersion style workshops are deeply focused on the inner terrain utilizing archery, breath, journaling, awareness tracking, and nature to come home to our self and bodies. The immersion events will sometimes combine breathwork or modalities that aid in somatic release and embodiment.
Are you ready to experience Traditional Archery?
AS SOMEONE WHO’S GROWN UP AROUND HUNTING AND SHOOTING,
I NEVER EXPECTED TO BE CHANGED BY AN ARCHERY LESSON.
The day I took my first lesson from Mikhel it lit a fire within me I was not expecting! First her energy is unmatched; her heart, passion, and dedication to the art is cosmic. 95% of the class she was teaching had never held a weapon let alone a bow. To see her teach and mentor that many new archers at once was absolutely mesmerizing. By the end of the lesson EVERY ONE of them looked as though they had been doing it for years.
She transforms people and changes their trajectory.
She’s by far one of the most masterful guides I’ve ever come across. On top of all that she’s unapologetically herself and her soul is unlike anyone you’ll ever meet. Mikhel changed my life that day and I wil
forever be grateful for the skills and life lessons she shared.