Look at Yin practice to improve flexibility. You stay in poses for minutes not moments. This allows your body to open up slowly.
We are all at different places in our lives and our practice. Like you, I am working on touching my toes. And I’ve been practicing for 7 years regularly (unrelated injury causing my inflexibility…but i still sometimes feel competitive or jealous when I see what others are capable of!! Part of the yoga journey is learning to accept where you are today, in this moment)
Try holding your stretches for a minimum of 3 minutes. Don’t focus so much on putting the stretch deeper with each breath, just focus on relaxing more and more with each breath.
This is excellent advice. In yoga we say that it is not about fitting your body to the pose by fitting the pose to your body. Note the objective and use your modification of the pose to fulfil that objective.
Bolsters, pillows, blocks, wedges, whatever it takes! The more supported you feel, the more you can relax into the stretch, the more effective it becomes.