Hi there
I've been shooting a Korean traditional bow with a thumb ring as my main style now for some time. It did take a while to get used to but now if I shoot a bow from my fingers it feels totally alien!
The 2 strangest parts of adapting to this style was anchoring, and aiming. Anchoring as this bow is drawn back so far, that my die-hard reference of tab under chin, string along chin and nose from
recurve was useless and I had to get used to the feeling of anchoring at the side of my face and way further back than usual. This took longer than any other part of the style but I now have a repeatable and steady draw and anchor.
The aiming part of the shot was also bit of a quandry. Coming from 4 years or so of sighted
recurve, moving to unsighted full time was a challenge and I kept trying to find reference points, work out gaps etc etc all to no avail until ~HUN~ at my club, a firm believer in instinctive traditional archery convinced me to just make the shot, and dont aim..... for those who have seen the Last Samurai, think '...no mind'. By this I mean I take my stance, follow my draw routine and stare down the target as I anchor and loose but I do not actively aim per s?. If I was asked where the point is when I shoot, I couldn't tell you. It is repeatable, but not actively enforced if that makes sense. When I started doing this, consistency came in and my shooting improved a lot and I really enjoy the more relaxed shooting, not so technical and focused on every little nuance of the sequence. My thumb ring shooting form has changed from how it was early on and I have settled into a routine that is now the norm, there is a short video of me shooting with a thumb ring here...
Shooting Form with Kaya KTB - YouTube
Overall i'm really enjoying shooting with a thumb ring and dont think i'll be going back anytime soon. I've tried a few other bows since adopting the KTB a while ago, including buying a Wolf flatbow recently but always go back to eastern bows and thumb ring shooting because its just feels so much better and more natural for the style of bows I am shooting.
Besides, it just looks cool too