I didn't try Taoist meditation, but the meditation I did do seems remarkably similar to the above, and that definitely did help in a number of ways. Mostly I use it to manage my emotions, steer my thoughts into more productive ways, tell when I'm being irrational, or boost my concentration when working. However, it took bloody ages for it to pay off and even now I'm not sure if it was worth all the effort that went into it (well, the same holds true for reading less wrong I guess).

Also, once you remove the mysticism all meditation basically seems to boil down to: Become aware of the things going on in your head and body, and you may eventually become able to regulate them. However, I think I would actually count that as evidence in favour of that one thing actually working.