Meditation techniques?

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I've been told many times that I should practice meditation to help with anxiety. I find some guided meditations helpful (focusing on breathing and relaxing images or self-compassion, or whatnot), and I like progressive muscle relaxation (where you go through and tighten and then release different muscle groups in turn). But actually meditating in the sense of quieting the mind tends to go nowhere. I just jump into puzzling something out or rehearsing a conversation or something almost instantly. Almost as soon as I've noticed that I'm thinking and tried to come back to focus on my breath, I'm off again.

I've tried concentrating on my breathing, thinking "here..., now..." as I breathe, incorporating movement (I just seem to get fixated on the way I'm moving and how it matches up with my breathing or not) and making an Om type noise on the out-breath, but nothing seems to help much.

Has anyone else tried meditating, and what techniques have worked to help you clear your mind/stay with your breath/etc.?

I spent 15 years going on and off to a Buddhist meditation group. Much better to be guided than learn yourself. Lovely quiet relaxing atmosphere too, perfect for aspies!

That's a good idea. I hadn't even considered a class. Thanks!

I have been meditating for 20 yrs on and off. I tried a lot different techniques. Tantric, mantra, guided, buddhist, mindful, non-religious, yoga, self-guided.

I guide sometimes. Was a part of a group that did it - yoga and meditation.
I almost always had unrestful energy when I let someone else guide me in the beginning. Not overwhelming thoughts or a rush of thoughts but some kind of resistance - like why am I doing this. Took me two yrs of guided meditation to get to self-guiding myself. Mindful - helps me a lot.
I find both self-guiding and someone else or a tape guiding me the best to - achieve the meditative trance/peace/calm/ - whatever's for you.

Mostly breath meditation with some mental imagery.

This might seem weird, but I imagine myself sinking underwater. It's supposed to be symbolic for me as I think of the surface waves above as the busy part of my mind, and I'm trying to get past that to something deeper.

Thanks Priola, and Videodrome, I like that image.

I tend to do various forms of yogic breathing, the one from the pit of my stomach works best for my meditating spells and then I solemnly intend to cast outward and disperse somewhere between the lashing waves and the piercing beam of my distant lighthouse...