When I started the practice, I did not care to do it but went ahead with practicing the exercises. After about three months of practice, one day as I was listening to the tape, I thought I would give it a try and presto! the fingers did grew and shortened as I wished. Believe me, no greater effort was needed to achieve this.
I also experienced the other exercise of visualization namely, passing energy through the sword fingers. This required greater focus and concentration.
