I recently met some Krishna guys at a festival and they taught me an interesting meditation technique.
It consist of repeating a mantra (out loud) 108 times while counting the repetitions with your fingers on a wood pearl chain thing.
They say the point is that your senses are busy thinking about, saying, hearing yourself say, and counting the mantra so it helps keeping your mind from racing wildly.
It worked quote well for me, so if you find your mind constantly wandering off when trying to just focus in your breathing, this is something you can try to keep your senses busy.
After doing this a few times, I found that I can just mumble the mantra a few times while walking on the street or doing other routine stuff and even that helps to some effect. Also, it made Zazen easier because it introduced me to the state of mind I was looking for.
Good luck clearing your mind!
I've never heard of this technique but it sounds very very interesting. Thank you very much for sharing this experience!
Yes you're right, it's sometimes hard to clear your mind and get into that meditative state, and I can imagine how keeping your senses busy will help. That's a very interesting point. Thanks again for sharing & good luck to you too on your journey. Namaste