When I was 19 years old, studying mechanical engineering in a college with very basic facilities, computers felt like magic.

A professor who came to my college as a guest lecture to teach Finite Element Analysis, Dr. N. Shyam sir, was the one who introduced me to what computing could actually do. Back then, my immediate and biggest aim was simple: learn engineering analysis, run simulations, and present a technical paper. What started as an academic fascination turned into a lifelong relationship with technology. This fascination took me to several places such as NIT Rourkela, BITS Pilani and Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal. I did win a poster presentation for one my paper at BITS Pilani too. Below is one of the photograph of my friends in BITS Pilani in 2005.

For the last twenty years, that relationship defined my routine. I spent 12 to 14 hours every single day sitting in front of screens, writing software, troubleshooting systems, and managing operations. Technology gave me a career, sharp problem-solving skills, and a livelihood. Around two years ago, when I crossed 40, I started feeling the heavy cost of those long hours.

The Need for a Real Reset

The strain was not normal tiredness. It was a low-grade restlessness in my head. My first reaction was typical: maybe I just need a break. I planned a vacation with my family. The trip was wonderful and gave me a few days of relief, but the moment I got back to work, the restlessness returned.

A one-week vacation cannot undo twenty years of working 14 hours a day on computers. I realized that taking an occasional break was not enough; I needed a daily habit to keep myself grounded.

Around that time, I was listening to a podcast where Dr. Ali Irani was talking with Raj Shamani. He explained how our bodies accumulate electrical charge and tension from constantly working around digital gadgets, and how that drains our energy over time. While he discussed physical ways to dissipate that charge:

If digital immersion charges the mind with continuous stimulation, what is my daily, conscious mechanism to ground and dissipate that energy?

I had learned meditation in my twenties, but it was always something I did irregularly. It was never a disciplined habit.

Turning the Phone into a Tool for Discipline

In January 2025, I explored about how my phone can be used to build a habit around meditation. I downloaded an app and decided to give it an honest try. For the first four months, I was inconsistent. I would meditate for a couple of days, miss a week, and then start again. There was no instant magic.

Then came May 16, 2025.

There was no sudden crisis that morning. It was just a quiet, clear internal realization that if I wanted genuine focus and balance, half-hearted efforts would not work. I committed to sitting on the mat every single morning for next 21 days. I started with just 7 minutes. The first few weeks were terrible for me sitting for 7 minutes. Over time, as sitting still became easier, I increased gradually to 12, 15 and then to 21 minutes. The app notifications and streak counter helped keep me accountable in those early days. But gradually, chasing a number on an app turned into something deeper: a daily Saadhana (regular practice).

Consistency in the Middle of Real Life

As I write this, I have completed 458 days since that morning in May. It has not been a perfect, unbroken streak. Real life does not stop for meditation. Over the past 15 months, I have had hectic travel schedules, tight work deadlines, family commitments, and volunteer work with Seva Bharathi.

There were mornings when things were chaotic and I missed a session. The app has a feature called “Streak Freeze” that lets you save your streak if you miss a day. To me, that carried a practical lesson: missing one day is not a failure; the real win is getting back on the mat the very next morning without feeling guilty. Saadhana in everyday family and professional life is not about being a monk. It is about building the resilience to keep coming back.

Meditating Beyond:

Over these 458 days, meditation stopped being something I only did in a quiet room at home. The practice traveled with me everywhere. I had the opportunity to sit in silence in places known for their spiritual depth:

• Along the quiet banks of the Narmada and Godavari rivers.
• Immersed in the stillness of the Sri Ramana Maharshi Ashram in Tiruvannamalai.
• On the Swami Vivekananda rock memorial
• On the shore of Atlantic Ocean in Fort Lauderadale, FL

In those sacred spaces, the quiet energy of the surroundings made it effortless to close my eyes and feel recharged.

At the same time, I practiced in much noisier, ordinary places. I have meditated sitting in tight airplane seats at 35,000 feet, and on inter-city train journeys with people moving all around me. What I realized is that you do not need perfect silence around you to meditate. The practice is about learning how to settle your own mind, no matter where you happen to be sitting.

The Practical Changes

About 90% of the time, I meditate during the first hour after waking up, right alongside my morning yoga practice. Doing physical yoga poses, working on breathing, and then sitting in stillness sets a calm rhythm for the entire day. The changes have been practical and visible:

• No morning phone scrolling: Instead of checking emails or notifications for the first 15 minutes of the day, I sit in silence. Starting the day without screens keeps my mind from going into immediate panic mode. It wasn’t possible for me initial days, gradually it took a habit.
• Steady daily energy: On days when I do both yoga and meditation, my body feels light and active. The fatigue has almost completely disappeared on those days where there was only few hours of sleep.
• Managing my temper: In my personal circle, I have often been known as a short-tempered person. Meditation has not made me completely calm overnight, but it has created a small pause between a trigger and my reaction. That small pause has saved me from countless unnecessary arguments and bad reactions.

Later in this journey, practicing 21 days of Hanuman Deeksha alongside this daily routine took my mental discipline even deeper. That experience showed me how physical self-control and mental focus support each other.

An Everyday Saadhak

I am sharing this not as a guru or someone who has mastered his mind, but simply as an ordinary person trying to live better. Living and working in our fast-paced times means there will always be digital noise, daily stress, and personal flaws to work on.

Meditation has not made my problems disappear, but it has changed how I face them. If you spend most of your day staring at screens and managing endless tasks, do not wait for an annual vacation to fix your stress. Start by giving yourself 7 minutes of quiet every morning before the world asks for your attention.