Armed with my meditation app and my intention, I felt like I had a quiet mind in my crosshairs. Well, kind of.

In reality, on the first night of the challenge I remembered to meditate only as I laid down to sleep. With my head still on the pillow, I reached for my phone, popped in my headphones and started my first meditation from the fetal position, totally ignoring my audio guide's gentle instructions to assume a comfortable seated position.

The rest of my first week I kept up this bad habit of squeezing in my meditations when I felt like it, most often when I was on the verge of dozing off. (And yes, if I'm being honest, I did drift off a few times). On the plus side, I sure was sleeping well. But I realized I as long as I half-assed my mediations, I wouldn't get everything I wanted out of them.

Both Goldberg and Winston emphasize the importance of picking a specific time to meditate each day and tying it to something you do every day. "Really make sure you do your practice at the same time," Goldberg says. "We say rise, pee and mediate." In other words, make meditation your first priority after hopping out of bed (and, you know, taking care of business).

"It's also helpful to have a designated space because your mind knows that when you're in this spot, it's your meditation spot," Winston adds. Fortunately, you don't need a plant- and pillow-bedecked meditation room; you just need a spot that affords you some privacy. "For the longest time I meditated in the bathroom. It had a lock, and I didn't want the kids coming in," Goldberg says.

Oh, and meditating while reclining in bed? Not such a great idea, it turns out. After talking with the experts, I moved my meditation practice to mornings in my living room -- thereby removing the temptation to nod off.

I started with 10-minute meditations. Now, when it comes to good television or a fascinating conversation, 10 minutes flies by in the blink of the eye. But when you're alone with your thoughts, trying not to, you know, think those thoughts, the earth may as well be standing still.

The first few times I meditated, I felt like I had an itch emanating from the center of my brain. Thoughts swarmed my brain like flies. One time, I obsessively thought about how parched I was, to the point where I convinced myself I might literally die of thirst in the time it took to get through my meditation. Another time, I found myself speculating about "Game of Thrones" plot points. I was constantly redirecting my mind back to my breath. When my time was up, I like I'd just finished running a 10K.

My frustration with how terrible I was at meditating was enough to make me want to throw in the towel, but Goldberg encouraged me to stick with it and try to refrain from judging myself. "There's nothing you can do wrong if you're sticking with it," she reassured me. "Everyone has a learning curve," It'd be like sitting at a piano for the first time and expecting yourself to play a concerto."

She was right. Over time, I found meditating easier the more I practiced. Every several days, my meditation duration would increase by a minute or two, and surprisingly the 14- to 16- minute meditations I did toward the end of my streak didn't feel as difficult as the first 10-minute meditations I tackled.

Much like starting a new gym habit, accountability is key when it comes to sticking with a meditation practice. "Set up a buddy system, or do it with someone or have some form of encouragement," Goldberg recommends.

I told my husband what I was up to in part because I didn't want him to fear my body had been possessed by some paranormal entity if he found me stoically perched on the couch, eyes closed, in front of a darkened television. And of course, by telling him about my goal, I implicitly gave him permission to nag me if I started to fall behind on my practice.

However, I found using an app like Breethe even more helpful. It keeps track of how many days you meditate in a row, which stoked my competitive side. I wanted to extend my streak as long as possible. Another app feature is an alarm that you can set to remind you to meditate each day (if you're not using this app, you could always just set an alarm on your phone, which seems like it would do the trick).

But If I let you believe that my story ended here in an undisputed victory, I'd be lying. For about two weeks, all of the pieces did seem to fall in place. I was a (smug) meditating machine. Then, during a particularly stressful week (one that, in my defense, involved packing up my apartment of four years and moving while eight months pregnant), I missed a day. And then I missed another day. And a third day. By the time I got back to my practice, it took some time to regain my momentum. That itchiness in my brain started to reemerge, and the ease I'd started to feel had lessened.

But as tempted as I was to call it quits, I tried not to let myself become deterred, taking some of Goldberg's wisdom to heart. "The idea is not to bring expectations. It's just to go with it and not judge yourself," she told me.

So as bummed as I was to see my beautiful streak disappear, I forced myself to think about how my practice -- no matter how imperfect it had become -- was (I hoped) helping me achieve my greater intention. Even if I had to limp over the finish line, I would get there.

I wish I could say I had stuck with my practice and was writing this from the lotus position, fresh off a day-long meditation retreat. But lying feels antithetical to the spirit of meditation. The truth is, after my self-imposed month of meditating ended, my efforts have been sporadic, at best. On mornings when I'm not racing the clock to get to work on time, I try to pause and meditate, but often, I'm lucky to squeeze it in at all.

But this isn't to say it wasn't worth it. Even if I wasn't overcome with an overwhelming sense of zen by the end of the month, learning to meditate has helped me get a grip on my stress.

"A hallmark of mindful meditation is to train your mind to be in the present moment. When we're in past and future that's where depression and anxiety lies," Winston explained. "This is an opportunity to just be instead of do do do." I found this to be true. Meditating equipped me with the ability to rein my mind in when it started barreling days, weeks, or months ahead of me or got stuck in the past. Plus, more mindful approach helped me appreciate my present moments more, instead of rushing through things or zoning out.

I also gained a lot from the breathing technique encouraged by the Breethe app. With each inhale, you say to yourself "breathing in," and as you exhale you say to yourself, "breathing out." It sounds stupidly simple, but I've found it to be remarkably helpful. It's given me a simple mantra to keep my mind focused when I feel my anxiety surging or I'm dealing with physical discomfort.

However, I'm aware that being a so-called "emergency meditator" won't help me reap the full benefits of meditation as much as a regular practice would. Studies have shown that with consistency, meditation has the power not only to alleviate stress, but also to literally alter your brain in a number of meaningful ways -- from improving focus to actually increasing your gray matter.

For the time being, I'm going to do my best to practice, while withholding judgment from myself if I fall off track. And at the very least I hope that I can get through a savasana without entertaining thoughts about nuclear disaster, my mounting list of to-dos or any of the other stressors that consume my mind.