dedicated to the discussion of the chinese internal martial arts of xingyiquan, baguazhang, taijiquan, related arts, and anything else best discussed over a bottle of rum
It can give useful feedback on certain aspects of your movement. If you can't do it, then maybe it's worth spending a few fun minutes learning to do it. Once you can do it, you can forget about it and go back to striking more solid inanimate objects and other people (with their permission ). Or pole shaking, also much more useful.
Do not make the mistake of giving up the near in order to seek the far.
I did this in the first few months of learning Taiji but it was quickly not very valuable with a big strike. What became interesting was being able to move the flame without striking - just using intent.