A healthy Living Pelvis is constantly contracting and releasing, pulsing with life with each breath, responding in fullness to each moment of joy, as well as pain. That is, unless your pelvis is in lockdown.
The pelvic diaphragm is directly animated by the state of the autonomic nervous system, through the vagus nerve. When the sympathetic system gets triggered often it becomes chronic, resulting in a state of constant contraction. The pelvic diaphragm and organs within the abdomen and pelvis display hypertonicity, or too much tone, resulting over time in the inability to release tension. This ultimately affects our ability to feel pleasure, have easeful elimination, express blossoming fertility, enjoy easy menstrual cycles, feel connected to the earth, and the list goes on. Without healthy tone, the chorus is interrupted, often leading to stagnation, and a whole cacophony of unpleasant menstrual, fertility, and sexual dysfunction.
Healthy vagal tone is especially important to the suppleness of the cervix and uterus. The vagus nerve wanders throughout the body and communicates directly with key digestion, elimination, and reproduction organs. The tone of the vagus nerve informs our ability to respond to present moment external and internal sensory stimulation, the ability to soften, relax, and surrender, and to flow between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. Releasing the pelvis from lockdown frees us to trust our own bodies, emotions, and intuition.
What do we do about this?
I work with many different techniques to address the healthy tone of the pelvic diaphragm and nervous system. One of my favorites is TRE or trauma-releasing exercises, also known as ‘tremoring’. Here’s a story about a mammal response that will enlighten you about the importance of tremoring.
When a polar bear is being observed by biologists, for example, and they decide they need to study him closer, they will often tranquilize him. For the bear, there is a period of time when he’s being pursued, by machines, or many humans, and his fight/flight sympathetic system is activated, and on high alert, he runs. Eventually, the biologists are able to subdue him, and he passes out from the meds they give him. The key here: he fell asleep with his nervous system on high alert.
The biologists do their thing and make sure the bear’s alright, and upon waking they observed a phenomenon that almost all mammals do in this same situation. The bear began shaking, or tremoring, as his nervous system ‘shook off’ the stress hormones (shaking stimulates the lymph system) and cleared the activated charge left over in his nervous system. Then the bear lays there deep breathing for some time, down-regulating and self-soothing. Finally, he gets up and walks away, without any held tension or trauma stuck in his system.
People are the only mammal that over-rides this response. We do it out of fear of social ostracization, taboos of ‘being crazy’, fear of panic attacks which are simply unfinished, buried trauma wanting to release from the body. But the truth is, tremoring is totally natural, healthy in fact, and an excellent tool in releasing the psychosomatic charge and overprotective reflexes of past trauma, without overthinking all the details of what happened to you.
“All humans have an innate capacity to heal from traumatic experiences. We as a species are genetically encoded with the capacity to heal ourselves. If we did not possess this ability, our species would have become extinct shortly after we were born. Not only can we heal from traumatic experiences, but trauma itself has been part of the natural evolutionary process of our species, and all traumatized individuals have access to this natural healing method that is genetically encoded within them.”
― David Berceli, Trauma Releasing Exercises
My own experience with this method was quite a life changer. I wouldn’t be here, teaching and holding space for women in this capacity, with sexual and reproductive trauma healing without TRE. I myself overcame extensive trauma in my own body and story, and now I help others do the same. That would be impossible if I were still carrying the charge of my trespasses in my own body. TRE was a pivotal training and skill set in my personal and professional journey.
It helped me expand my sensory capacity, and widen the riverbank so to speak so that I can experience all ranges of emotions without overwhelm or disassociation. It helped me access deeper rivers of pleasure, intimacy, self-love, and belonging. It continues to help me clear the energy of other people’s trauma in my work, which is a must-have skill as a bodyworker.
Perhaps most importantly, it helped me feel resourced and accept that trauma will happen again. As David Berceli said, it’s part of the evolutionary process. I no longer need to be stuck in defense cascades, I know I will be adaptive and flexible in the face of future hardship.
We are animals, we are biological wild things, and we are not able to escape this. We live with very old processes in the nervous system (that we are miraculously beginning to understand). Processes that kept us alive for millions of years. This knowledge gives us freedom from feeling trapped or victimized by biology. I believe we become more resilient and even superhuman when we unite with our biology. Isn’t that what thriving is all about?
Tremoring can help you too... I incorporate this work into my bodywork sessions whenever possible. I would love to support you in your healing journey. Book a session with me today <3