योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam
Yoga is Skill in Action
Bhagwat Gita-2.50
When we think of meditation, we always think about the end goal. Sitting down, brain empty. Sometimes, meditative acts are also considered, but even then, people who don’t practice it will say, “this act is so stressful, how can it be meditative”? Mercury is the planet that rules over the nervous system, and creates stress and anxiety. Mercury is also the planet of communication, learning, skillfulness, and daily routines. While being associated with anxiety, in this article, I will discuss Mercury as the antidote to anxiety.
Rarely do people consider meditation as a skill that can be learnt. But, meditation is not a physical or mental state that is easy to get to, but rather, it is a practice that requires the discipline to cultivate. When the mind is used to spinning, it is hard for it to stop. But, the remedy to make the mind stop spinning is do something that is difficult enough to require your entire concentration. But, this is a practice that is extremely worthwhile.
When learning anything, whether it is your job, your art, exercise, the process is extremely tedious. When the mind gets bored, when the body gets tired, and there needs to be a constant management of distractions, to take the mind and body back to the subject matter. There needs to be constant breaks, breaks that will take the body back to the original state of not working as well, which makes it difficult to start again.
Some subjects can be picked up naturally, but others are not as natural, they require effort that feels unnatural. The sixth house of routine and discipline is considered an enemy house for this exact reason. The matters of the sixth house are tedious, and they are difficult. It requires working slowly, and can be frustrating.
However, when something is done regularly, despite being difficult, despite being tedious, before you know it, it starts taking very little effort from your part. Your brain stops being as distracted, and your body starts becoming practised. This end point is where something stops being tedious and starts becoming meditative.
Skill in action is meditative. Something we know and see is that, our skills often fluctuate. Sometimes we are good, and sometimes, what was easy yesterday seems impossible today. When we are faced with these realities, the fact that we are not stable, or that our skills seem to deteriorate, we also need to be understanding about it. Progress is good and should be pursued, but practised movements are a good indicator of where we are, currently, on a physical and mental level. It can tell us what is required for our mind and body to be at its best. It helps you understand what kind of maintenance the body needs, whether it is food, sleep, or just rest.
The maintenance of skills, the maintenance of the mind, the maintenance of the body, all are ruled by Mercury. As a material planet, it reminds us that some things must be done regularly, whether we like it or not. Negative mental health is a reminder to ourselves, to be diligent in the maintenance of our mind, our body, and our environment.
Mercury rules over the sign of playful and curious Gemini, and the hard working and diligent Virgo. Out of these two signs, Mercury prefers Virgo, which is the natural sixth house of work and routine. Playful curiosity is not taken away from Mercury when it is in Virgo, but rather, it brings playfulness and curiosity to the tedious and humdrum Virgo.
The difficulties of the sixth house, the daily humdrum of life, the boring maintainence of the body, the mind, and the environment around us cannot be escaped. However, when it is regular, when it is practised, and when it is taken as enjoyable, rather than a chore, it starts to become rewarding. It starts to become almost spiritual. This is the reason that the 6th house is opposite to the 12th house, of spirituality, of meditation, of isolation, and of isolation.
As much as Mercury is the planet of anxiety, of the daily humdrum of life, and of difficult tasks, it is also the planet of curiosity, of games, and of fun. Mercury should be approached with a sense of joy and as a challenge. Mercury is a Game, and one needs to get good at the game before the game is fun. The process of getting good should bring one as much joy as being good.
When it comes to Mercury, when it comes to building skill in a way that is painful, we need to learn to be able to enjoy the process. Rather than it being something where we are faced with failures that are anxiety inducing, it should be something that is amusing, our natural inclinations to not be able to do something, and how we are able to overcome them. Fear of failure can be countered by the playfulness and the curiosity of Mercury. Laughing at yourself, and trying to do what you are bad at anyway, is how Mercury can be pacified.
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