Its been almost a year since the OP. In that time mindfulness has become more and more a way of life for me and meditation has become a daily practice.

The central idea of mindfulness is awareness without judgment. I have found that best accessed through my senses. Say I am cold. Mindfulness says to experience the cold without labeling it as good or bad or planning what to do about it . so I will feel the cold air going into my lungs , the air stinging my cheeks, the tightening of my an muscles against the cold....I will experience those things and not judge them. The idea being a state of being is neither good nor bad ( here I reach my struggle with mindfulness BC eventually you'd better get yourself warm/fed/dry etc)

If I am experiencing emotion.I focus on what I feel in my body . we tend to get ourselves all worked up over what could happen, judging ourselves for our reactions etc. Instead I breathe and notice "my chest feels heavy" " my shoulders feel very tight " etc. I will scan my whole body with out judging the feelings and it usually calms me.

There is no need to sit to do this. I walk while I do it, or lie down, or sit in a comfy chair. The cross legged in an empty area idea comes from a more ascetic aspect of zen Buddhism.

I also use mantras timed to my breath . breath in "I am" breathe out "safe/peaceful/brave etc). I will simply repeat this to myself on every breath no matter what I am doing until I actually feel brave/calm/whatever. I find this much more effective than trying to sit still. For me the goal is tonempty my mind of the constant onslaught of criticism and judgment in my head so this works better for me than sitting and chanting etc.