i sincerely think this is the best i can offer:

practice

practice is the important bit

most practice-related questions can be well-answered with "cool, practice more"

"i keep getting distracted"
"cool, practice more"

"i can't meditate"
"cool, practice more"

"i saw something/i heard something/my body disappeared..."
"cool, practice more"

"wait, am i real?"
"cool, practice more"

none of what follows is anywhere near as good as that

even if you believe your practice to be suboptimal, practicing suboptimally is almost always better than trying to "fix" practice

there is no esoteric technique that will "work". there is no special mantra to be found

being able to floor/lotus/whatever sit is good, but won't much change anything

practice is not something you can usefully optimise in this way

it does not "work" like any other activity

certainly put some time into sitting well and comfortably, hip mobility and so forth

certainly reassess whether techniques are a good fit (sometimes - months apart)

certainly put together a practice space/altar if you find such things helpful (wait at least several months, this is not a new thing to consoom)

but don't allow any of this to distract or detract from diligent practice

as aforementioned, maps are useful, but don't get distracted by those either

some people can't resist the idea that they could think/read their way to insight, and this usually results in a lot of wasted time and perhaps suffering

(usually because they think they "get" things that they don't, and end up arriving at nihilism)

allegedly it works for some people, but it seems an inferior approach to me

just try talking to lost Advaita Vedanta, or even worse Neo-Advaita, practitioners

i think that the best use of texts is in conceptual sensemaking of (integrating), and contextualising, insight

not that you should expect any insight to arrive quickly or at all

conversely, i think the worst use of texts is trying to "read ahead" for "the answers" (which are there, but will not be comprehensible to you yet)

if you arrive at nihilism, you have fucked up

and if we're going beyond symbols then books don't mean shit anyway. "nihilism" doesn't mean shit either. it's all just words

i'd suggest aiming to spend >=90% of the time you devote to this on practice, and <=10% on reading/theory/thinking

i read virtually nothing for the first few years of my own practice, and believe this was greatly beneficial

early practice is the hardest part

and it is legitimately hard

give it time (months)

conceptions that practice is "meant" to be relaxing or blissful or anything else are silly and unhelpful

practice is not "meant" to be anything, and will itself disabuse you of any such ideas

mind-wandering, distractions, frustration are not things going wrong. we get what we need from practice

when you learn what you are being called to learn, practice will probably shift "by itself"

cycles, apparent regressions etc. are normal. there is a fractal-y nature to progress in practice

whatever "it" is will always return

and will always leave again

if you are practicing diligently, you are practicing well. outside of this there is no "good" or "bad" practice

so don't think about any of this too much

better to just practice

if the idea of sitting a retreat becomes appealing

then do that! retreat is very good

start anywhere. any technique, guided meditations, doesn't matter

allow practice to change as it progresses

progression requires doing

practice is practical empiricism

so start somewhere, and go from there

here are some instruction for Ānāpānasati (mindfulness of the breath) practice, one place you might start:

1. sit down
2. set a timer for ten minutes
3. feel the physical sensation of breathing at your nose or abdomen
4. when you realise you're distracted, mentally congratulate yourself for realising and return to the breath

that is probably plenty to work with for several months (though, try adding to the timer)

if this practice induces panic, you are probably suffering from nervous system dysregulation

if you feel a compulsion for (a lot) more detail, you could do much worse than Culadasa's (John Yates') The Mind Illuminated

this is hard-won advice, and i have flagrantly violated almost every piece of it

my doing so was part of practice too

probably an important part

the only exception was the first and best piece

so, it all turned out fine