The Blue Sky Meditation Protocol Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by [deleted]

You probably haven't had success with meditation yet because your mind needs to warm up, your mind needs some foreplay to actually meditate.

The Blue Sky Protocol is a process that will lubricate your mind like it's in a candlelit, jacuzzi filled with KY jelly with a Barry White album playing in the backgr­ound. The Blue Sky Protocol will give your mind the foreplay it needs.

You've probably heard of the myriad benefits of meditation elsewhere; antiaging, memory, neurop­las­ticity, stress management and 'being present' in social intera­ctions.

But what are the immediate, day to day benefits? If you are going to devote 10 minutes a day to something in the short term you probably want to know what you can expect to get out of it in the short term.

The Blue Sky Protocol has 6 steps

Start by just focusing on your body weight, feel where your body weight is concen­trated on the chair or bed you are resting on.

Open monitoring of the sounds around you. Don't focus too intensely on a particular sound but just let the sounds pass through your mind. Be aware of them. You could even try to count the number of sounds you are hearing simult­ane­ously.

You are going to begin a body scan by asking what is the overall mood of your body? It could be tired, sore, restless, relaxed or even excited. Then starting with the top of your head you want to scan down, part by part asking yourself if that part of your body feels tense or relaxed. You'll start at the top of your head and eventually reach your toes.

You will begin to breath deeply in and out, as you do, just focus on saying in your head:
 ­ ­Inn­nnn­nnn­nnn­nnnnnn
 ­ ­Out­ttt­ttt­ttt­ttt­ttt­ttt­ttt­ttttttt
Very slowly and you breath profoundly
Then begin to count to 10
 ­ ­Inn­nnn­nnn­nnn­nnnnnn
 ­ ­One­eee­eee­eeeeee
 ­ ­Inn­nnn­nnn­nnn­nnnnnn
 ­ ­Two­ooo­ooo­oooooo

You get the idea...
Try to focus your mind just on the counting, occasi­onally another thought will pop up, but refocus your mind just on the counting and breathing.

After you reach 10 breaths, imagine your mind as a big beautiful blue sky. Imagine yourself somewhere in nature just enjoying the sight of the tranquil blue sky. That's what you are doing here, just enjoying how beautiful your tranquil mind is. Occasi­onally a thought will pop up, at this point it's important to be able to laugh at yourself:

How silly that I worry about that bill right now!
How silly that I would compare myself to that person!
While I'm just enjoying the view of my own tranquil mind...

The thoughts that pop up at this stage we are not going to judge, we are just going to laugh at and let pass.
Moments to appreciate how good it feels to empty your mind.

Now we have finally reached the stage where we are going to think about not thinking. Start by imagining your mind as a bubble floating in a dark vacuum. Then move into the bubble, imagine running your hands along the bubble, feeling how smooth it is. Feel the emptiness. If any thoughts popup, just smooth them over, feel the emptiness. As you do this repeatedly you will feel your head throbbing, experience almost a rolling or falling sensation, as your increased gamma waves bring you more into a flow state. You may even have some low level halluc­ina­tions, sometimes I will see weird eyes and geometric shapes at this stage.

Then you're done; return your focus to your body and breathing. Take a few