Seeking guidance on avoiding meditation distractions and sluggishness Do any of you readers , know of a very simple, dependable starting point for an old meditator , who sits everyday, but I do not have contact with any meditation teacher, who I am connected with. I sit, and make an effort to practice the mahasatipattana practice. For example, a thought to start out my meditation, that will enable me to have a session where I am not distracted or get to nervous , or sluggish, and so on. I say some prayers and refuge, and the I meditate, afterwards , I dedicate to merit to all living beings, not excluding a single one. 

Part of  my problem , is as I get older I have more health problems that affect me now, physically.So, I hope I made my question clear. I know , if I could go on a retreat, I would be sitting more firmly, but I can't attend a retreat at this time in my life. I have started , lately, the last two years, sitting for 5 minutes, twice a day. with prayers, dedication of merit and so on. 

Does any one have a similar situation , were you have figured out how to start correctly? Meaning, starting out and having an undistracted session? The alternative is, I just don't meditate , but maybe read some Buddha sutra, or a good teachers explanation..
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 &amp; 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.