Hi MB
I also suffer from pain in that area( as well as many other locations due to car accident and arthritis). How about starting small and building up? try 30 seconds of doing it actively, then just stand or sit ( or lie down if that's more comfortable for your neck), and then visualise yourself doing that particular Active Ex for the rest of the 10 minutes. Then try adding another 15-30 seconds every other day of physically doing them. Stabilise for 2 days, then begin to add more time. But do it all gradually, up to your borderlines of tolerance. Some discomfort is ok, but not to the point where it makes you feel like stopping it altogether. I was an inpatient in a pain management program in hspital and we all were taught how to build up pain tolerance very gradually. I promise you it really does work. Just be patient and be the tortoise, not the hare. I was virtually chair bound 13 years ago, but now can be up all day(still with pain levels, but far more managable). Also after nearly 40 days of practising qigong I am much more flexible in some areas of my body( and some of the exercises I did by visualising at first). Some other areas are worse, but I expected that as I open to new energy and clearing blockages, so the root causes are being worked on.
So, if you can stand, visualise sending the smoke to the ends of the universe, while you breathe out. Or do it lying down. Whatever posture you can manage that allows you to stay with the image as you breathe; you are reprogramming your mind by doing that, helping your body get there when it's ready to. Hope this helps. And someone with more experience may suggest something else.
Peggy
