Upvoted thanks for the education. I spent 10 years as a monk meditating 2 hours a day every day through my twenties, thirty years ago. It really helped me to build the focus I have today. We would rise by 4am and meditate until after sunrise, along with group chanting of Sanskrit mantras, followed by class from the Vedas. Meditation is what the Vedas teach, but they give you more than just observing the mind and calming it. They show you how to contact the supersoul or "paramatma" within, and to focus on that. I was taught in India by monks and we used a mantra to repeat, in order to focus two of the five senses - hearing and speaking - tongue and ears. In that way one can focus the mind, which is the culmination of the senses. Otherwise it wonders too much.

In my first years I would fall asleep so had to meditate while standing up. But after a few years it was possible to sit for two hours after only six hours sleep a day every day all year. It just takes practice, as you say.