Some people ought to meditate one way, some people ought to meditate another way. Each individual has specific requirements as to type and duration of meditation. Every case is individual.
Meditation, taken in proper doses, along with "tuning the reading instrument", can certainly accelerate one's "progress."
There are two basic ways to meditate: with seed and without seed. That is, to have something to focus on, or to attempt to completely empty the mind. It is generally more productive to meditate with seed in the beginning. Depending on your "type" the "seed" will be different. If you are a visual person, holding a visual image in the mind works. If you are an auditory person, holding a phrase and "hearing" it in your mind works. If you are kinesthetic, holding a "feeling" or trying to achieve that feeling, works best.
Also, at the point when you begin to have some success in stilling the "chatter," you can experiment with changing the seed or combining. You might have a visual and auditory, or feeling and visual, or auditory and feeling, or all of them at once.
My personal preference is a phrase that I can also "see" as letters forming words that appear and dissolve. With this, I have both "thought content" as well as visual image and can easily add "feeling" and sound at will. I can also discard visual, auditory and feeling elements and simply concentrate on the "content."
Breathing is very important for a number of reasons. Very slow, controlled breathing with counting to start the process works very effectively. Breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Once the breathing (that your are counting in order to regulate) becomes deep, slow and regular, then introduce either your phrase, visual image, or whatever you have selected as "seed." The breathing ought to continue as you have set it.
The object, in the beginning, is to set several tasks for your mind to focus on intently and to hold that focus for as long as you can. If your mind wanders and other thoughts come along, as soon as you realize that you have lost focus, just bring your mind back to the focus and don't get irritated that you have "lost your concentration." Most people can't focus on a single thing for longer than two or three minutes. That is why it is useful to begin with concentrating on the breathing and counting the breaths with the intention of setting up a specific depth and frequency. If you breath in for a count of 10, hold for a count of 5, breath out for a count of 10, and do this for at least 25 breaths in a row, you have achieved a respectable first step.
Another very useful technique is to find a poem or more lengthy quote to use as your breathing template AND "content."
For example, the so-called "Lord's Prayer" is very useful in this way.
Recite in your mind: Our Father Who art in Heaven ... on the in breath while holding in mind that the "kingdom of heaven, the "heavenly father" is the higher intellectual center ...
"Hallowed be thy Name...." on the outbreath while holding in mind that this is the part of you that is holy and which you desire to manifest through your self...
"Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done"... On the in breath while considering the fact that you wish to establish a link with your higher centers - the REAL you - via the magnetic center,
"On Earth as it is in heaven" on the out breath, contemplating the fact that once the magnetic center is formed that the will of the spirit, the "heavenly kingdom" can be brought into your life...
You don't have to do the whole prayer, the above is sufficient seed, but if you want to do the whole thing, I think you have the idea. You can visualize the words, consider the content, "feel" them, all the while the words themselves are acting as the "counter" for your breathing.
Some people can achieve very good results with very simple seed, other people require more complexity. Again, the point is to have something that you can focus on and to hold that focus intently. It is more or less an exercising of the Will and Intent, building a sort of "psychic muscle."
You may be surprised at the tenacity of the chatter and its resistance to this one-pointed focus.