Seeking guidance on avoiding meditation distractions and sluggishness

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There is a very simply Mahayana method, derived from the meditation teachings recorded in Classical Chinese Sutras.

A) Sit in comfortable position, ideally Lotus pose - like most the Buddhas' statuses. If you can't just sit as you are comfortable with, doing the visualization of light... [excerpted]. This can expel sluggishness, for it empowered.

B) Or, doing visualization of fire... [excerpted]. It's very good for health and curing.

I don't think the teachings of breathing meditations (or your mahasatipattana), [added: neither the so-called mindfulness meditation], mostly found around the corners, are correct. If you can do correct breathing meditation it would be awesome as well. Neither are there translations of any Chinese Classical Sutras can be trusted. Even Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka were grotesque molested by the translators, I discovered when doing some related researches.

I say some prayers and refuge

If you do so, I highly recommend you replaced with Nianfo (Jap: Nembutsu). It will greatly benefit you esp. benefiting older people. Apart from all the talks of Nembutsu, these Buddhas/ Bodhisattvas names are composed of Seed Syllables of Sanskrit, it has its mystical property that's mentioned in Gateway of Dharani, taught in Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra. Again trusted Eng. translation unavailable most were done by Theosophists like Edward Conze, they were badly translated.

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Good to have guidance on fundamentals. A Buddhist teacher will be very beneficial. Individuals vary. Any starting point at any point in life is possible.

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I am 76 years old and have practiced mindfulness meditation for 50 years. I suggest that what you need to know is how mindfulness meditation actually works. I have written a book on this topic but nobody buys it because I cannot afford to advertise it. Anyway, mindfulness meditation works because it engages something I call a safeguard cognitive process. It helps for you to know that your mind cannot understand something unless it makes sense to you and your mind cannot do something unless it makes sense to you. You have a very sophisticated intelligent function or mental process that constantly makes sure that what you think, do, or decide actually makes sense. This process can be viewed as a safeguard against errors in learning or against errors in the application of what you have learned. This very intelligent process operates unconscious, so you do not get a chance to see its benefits. When you practice mindfulness meditation you engage this process by being objective and alert. I suggest meditating for at least 20 minutes at day. You might try "focusing" as defined by Eugene Gendlin because it is similar to more advanced forms of mindfulness meditation. My name is Ronald Cowen.

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A standard beginner's practice for those who get distracted is to count your breaths. You can count them by subvocalizing, or on fingers. I counted by touching my thumb to three phalanges on each finger, and for each full hand - count one phalanges on the other hand.

Another practice to establish the mind in the beginning of the session is to 1) review all body sensations, head to toe and explicitly note every discomfort, then 2) review all breathing tensions and emotional sensations and note all of the preexisting conditions, then 3) review the state of the mind and note the quality of thinking & awareness today. Once the review is complete this way, it helps to set all distractions aside.

Then again, it's not like the distractions and sluggishness is one, and meditation is some perfect state separate from those. The whole point of (Buddhist) meditation is to work with your inner condition, until you learn to manage it, and in the process get some insight. So don't treat the obstacles as something unexpected, working with obstacles is the meat and bones of meditation.

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