Stories Held in the Pelvis
The pelvis is a key part of the body, the place where the torso meets the legs and feet. The part of the body we sit on (some of us all day long!) Allowing it to come into health, to integrate into the whole, is a gift to yourself.
The Pelvis Remembers
For many of us, the pelvis is one of the places where experiences associated with painful emotions and memories are stored. For myself, the pelvis has been the site of assaults on the wholeness, the sacredness of my body and soul during my childhood and adolescence. In response, I stopped consciously feeling it – not that I knew that at the time! Many years later through biodynamic craniosacral therapy, I began to feel the movements of my bones and muscles and ligaments, as they tried to reorganize. This “thawing” of the tension was the first step to healing.
Falls
You may have had injuries that may have healed physically, but not emotionally. Many of us in snowy locations have injured our tailbones while skating, skiing or tobogganing, or slipping on ice on the way to the car. Our fright may not have been expressed.
Emotions
For some, the feelings held in the pelvis are anger and fear from childhood experiences of being hit, spanked or kicked. Perhaps toilet training was harsh. Some have been sexually assaulted and hidden it for many years. Some women have had abortions or miscarried and carry stored feelings of grief and longing. Other women have experienced trauma during childbirth, a life and death experience.
Judgments
Some surrendered their self-esteem or ambitions at dance class. A teacher, a respected, esteemed and powerful role model in their lives at that time, called them out for the shape and movement of their bodies, or told them they would never make it into the next level or as a professional. The shock of these judgments has remained with them, stored in their pelvis.
The Result?
The pelvis can become numb, absent or compartmentalized from the rest of the body.
Your pelvis has been compensating for your physical, emotional and/or spiritual injury faithfully. And now you can integrate that part of your story, of your body, into the whole.
How does biodynamic craniosacral therapy help?
As a gentle, nonintrusive therapy, it allows you to release at your own pace the tensions held in the tissues (bone, muscle, ligament, fascia, organs and fluids). Our bodies have compensated for physical and emotional injuries, by contracting the tissues or by building bone for example. These patterns of experience may remain for decades, until the body can hold them no longer and pain arises.
Apt description of biodynamic craniosacral therapy
When we are formed as embryos, fetuses, there’s an original blueprint for the way each part of our bodies will be shaped and formed, each of us unique. Biodynamic craniosacral therapy helps the body return to its original blueprint, releasing a flood of energy.
I like this description – thanks Maria!
The original blueprint for your pelvis may have been compromised and here is an opportunity to begin to restore it.
Something happens…
If I put my hand on the pelvic bones of my clients (with their permission), I may feel contraction, or movement, or nothing. In some bodies, my sense of the pelvis is that it is hard, unmoving, as if it is made of stone – tightly holding in the traumatic experience. Or the pelvis may feel dull or absent if the person is disassociated from this part of his/her body. In healthier, more resourced bodies, the pelvis may feel sinewy as the muscles and bones are moving, expanding, and trying to let go of the tension, releasing some of the energy that has been contained there. This release may feel like heat or coolness; there may be jerks or nervous discharge.
Feeling Safe
Thoughts, memories or emotions can arise when I listen to the pelvis. It is not necessary to re-tell the story of a trauma during craniosacral therapy, which can cause retraumatization. You are invited just to feel the tissues, to feel the emotions, to be with your body in a way that is accepting and supportive. If you want to share the story, I listen in a compassionate way, the same way that I invite you to hear your story – with compassion. Some of you may benefit from counselling as well as biodynamic craniosacral therapy.
A 7 minute demo of some movements that support the pelvis and opening the joints of the hips and spine.