How does one establish a quick and easy session variable in Laravel?

Here's the code in my Controller:

      public function practice($id) {
            $practice = practice_video::findOrFail($id);
            return view('practice', compact('practice'));            
      }

This syntax will give my user this screen:


Perfect!

Thing is, I need to protect this page with a login dynamic. In other words, my user has to first login using their email and a predetermined password.

Having seen the "magic" of Laravel's "auth" dynamic, I didn't want to start from scratch using Vanilla PHP if there was quick and easy way to set up a login page that would establish a session variable that could be checked by the above page before it displayed the video.

How does one do that in the context of Laravel?

Here's the blade for the above page:

@extends('layouts.satellite')
@section('content')
<!-- Section: intro -->
<section id="intro" class="intro">
	<div class="satellite-content">
		<div class="container">
			<div class="row">
				<div class="col-xs-12 satellite_row">
					Hello, {{$practice->first_name }} {{ $practice->last_name }}!
					<br><br>
					Below you'll find the "practice video, "<b> 
					@if($practice->clip==1 || $practice->clip==2 || $practice->clip==3 || $practice->clip==4 || $practice->clip==5 || $practice->clip==6 || $practice->clip==7 || $practice->clip==8 || $practice->clip==9 || $practice->clip==10)
						DIAGNOSIS: DYSFUNCTIONAL SUCK PATTERN WITH FLACCID TONGUE | Video # {{ $practice->clip }}</b>
					@endif
					<br><br>
					You'll have access to this video until <b><?php echo date("m/d/Y", strtotime($practice->expiration_date));?></b>. If you have any questions, contact NOMAS International by clicking <a href="/contact">here</a>.
					<br><br>
					Thanks!
					<br><br>
					<div style="padding:10px; border:1px solid #ccc; text-align:center;">
						<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9">
							<iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="{{ asset('assets/videos/video_'.$practice->clip.'.mp4') }}" allowfullscreen autoplay=false></iframe>
						</div>
					</div><br><br>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div>
	</div>
</section>
@endsection

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