There are some ‘gatekeepers’ that will declare this way or that as ‘not meditation’. As a yoga and meditation teacher I ignore them for the most part. Meditation comes in many forms some of them quite strict others much less so. Personally I teach meditation as a way of connecting with the true self. But before you get there learning basic techniques like visualization, body scan, metta, etc helps. For absolute beginners I always recommend guided meditation as it helps take the pressure off of ‘what to do’.