In his book, Meditation For Beginners, Jack Kornfield offers these two tips for a strong meditation practice.
First, sit properly. “The sitting of your physical body will help a great deal in the quieting of the mind. Your first step, then, is to find a stable and comfortable posture so that you can become aware of your body in the present moment. You can sit squatting on a cushion, you can sit cross legged; or you can sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor. What matters is that you have a sense of stability, comfort and ease.”
Second, focus on the breath. “Use the natural movement of breath to begin to train your awareness to be in the present moment . . .each time you become aware that you have gone off into thinking or planning or remembering, you let go of the thought and return to the breath . . . if it helps, as you breath you can say softly in the background ‘in’ during the in breath and ‘out’ during the out breath. But let those words be only 5 percent of your attention, and let the other 95 percent be your awareness resting on your breath.”