A meditating thing I read in a book

Actually I read it in the Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac and decided to try it. I'm pretty new to meditating and this is the first thing that really worked for me, my dad used to meditate a lot so I am familiar kind of with it.
Well before you go to sleep at night, you put your feet together and focus and on the area 4 inches below your navel and breathe deeply. Its supposed to be the center of your mind.. (I mean according to the Dharma Bums but that book kinda changed my life so I believe it).
Anyone ever heard of that before? I've tried it a few times and its great... as someone who finds it hard to be patient for meditation its easy. And it feels... spectacular.

I definitely want to meditate more... everyday. I need to read more on it or something.
I've tried yoga but I kind of hate it. It hurts. I was thinking maybe I could kind of do my own version of yoga but not stretching things for so long because I'm not flexible!

Sorry.. didn't mean to ramble. Hi!

 

Yeah, Maharishi Mahesh taught what he called the 'Sleep Meditation.' And in that technique one keeps attention below the navel as one partially reclines in bed trying to sleep, and I believe that one thinks that the area below navel is black. It was just taught for sleeping though. Not as a higher consciousness technique.

 

Hmmm, I'll have to try that naval thing.

As far as Yoga goes, it's not competitive. It doesn't matter how flexible you are at first. You go at your own pace, and develop flexibility.

I'm not very flexible either, but the more Yoga I do, the better I get.

Make it your own.

 

Yes. The Chinese call it the tan tien - it's the repository of your qi, or energy. It also coincides with the body's center of gravity, so figuratively and literally when you meditate there you're balancing yourself.

There are all kinds of yoga, just as there are all kinds of yoga teachers. Some emphasize only the physical, some only the spiritual. The only way to find what works for you is to take as many different classes as possible.