Something a little easier

While I'm trying to figure out how to concentrate enough to stimulate the flow of Qi into my navel--I'm not having much luck so far--I thought I might also try something that seems a little easier, too.  This exercise is closer to what I've been doing in acupuncture and doesn't seem to involve a lot of visualization and concentration, activities that I'm finding pretty hard to do.

Acupuncture (as I've described) is all about poking key points on the meridians so as to increase the flow of Qi.  This exercise is designed to do something similar, but (of course) without the needles. 

This activity is sort of a form of self-massage, but, weirdly, it doesn't involve touching.  The idea is to move the palm of your hand over the meridians (again, without touching them) in a specific way so that the proximity of the palm to the meridian will stimulate and smooth out the flow of Qi.

Here's the pattern:

1. Start by sitting on a chair and concentrating on your palm.  
2. Move your palm from your torso down the inside of your arm to your hand.
3. Then, move the palm from the finger tips up the outside of the arm to your head
4. Next, from the head move the palm across the body and down the outside and back of your leg to your foot.  When you reach the tips of your toes, cross over to the inside of the leg and move up to your torso.
5. You can complete this pattern as many times as you like, making sure you balance yourself for both sides of the body.  When you feel you are done, move your hands, now locked, over your navel to seal the energy.

As I keep writing, a lot of this seems weird to me, and I'm trying to suspend my skepticism.  I'll try this stuff and see what I can see.  It runs so counter to most of what I believe about exercise and the body, but, well, I told myself I'd give this a try so I'll give it a try.  The connection between mind and body that is the basis for this stuff makes sense to me, I suppose, but, again, it's pretty foreign to most of what I've always believed about energy and muscles and exercise.