Has anyone tried meditation? Really?

After the worry last week  and reading Eat, Pray, Love and seeing my lovely therapist today I have decided to give it a try.  A real try.  I have been interested in meditation for some time.  Casey and I even participated in a Duke study about meditation.  The study, I found, was boring.  I think mainly because we had to write very descriptive logs about our experience.  I know this was a study and they had to gather data but it just really ruined the whole process for me.  The actual practice was calming and I always felt a bit lighter afterwards.  However, I could never meditate for too long.  Thoughts start to creep up in my head like gnats creep up in your face.  I tried my best to push them out but, usually, that was very hard.  So, the process ended.  After the study I didn't try again.  However, now something is pushing me toward trying again.  Maybe it's a lot of things:  my worry that seems to cripple me at times, the book I am reading, my therapist's admission that meditation and 'giving up the thought' is a practice she uses to stay balanced, maybe it's my age, or maybe it's just a fad-ish thing I want to try.  I think it's a combo of all of those things to be very honest.  I did practice some today and found I could only stay focused for about 5 minutes, but hey, that's was 5 minutes of complete mind silence without any distractions.  After a few minutes it seemed like the silence enveloped me and I could hear nothing around me except my breathing.  Oh, and the breathing slowed down tremendously.  The sound and rhythm of my breath helped keep me in a meditative state.  Just the in and out, in and out.  I felt calm afterwards.  It seemed like it had worked some.  I was happy to feel the lightness.  So my question to my on so many followers is:  What's your thought on meditation?  Hmmm?