One of the major goals of standing qigong is to develop a strong downward flow that clears stagnant energy out of your system and strengthens your natural restorative abilities.

When you begin to work on this process, though, it's natural to wonder how strict you need to be able sticking with the downward flow and what to do if you start to notice other things happening in the body. Recently, I got this question via email that nails the exact issue:

If I get distracted for a second or my attention bounces unconsciously to another part of the body, or I notice that my alignments begin to collapse -- basically when I lose the continuity of the scan -- should I start over from the top of the head or continue from where I left off?

Here's my advice and a little more about how to think about the problem:

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