THE PELVIS - WINGS OF DESIRE AND BEAUTY

excerpted and edited from “The Memory Palace of Bones”

The pelvis is the very center of balance, the central inner city of our body, through which our energy flows. It balances out and coordinates the forceful movements of the upper and lower body.

Arguably the pelvis is the sexiest place in the body. I read in a yoga blog that “there is nothing more sexy than empty space.” Let that percolate for a while – “nothing more sexy than empty space.” So what does the pelvic bowl present to us? The beauty of a bowl or pot lies not only in its form but also and equally in how it relates to and embraces empty space. Like most bowls, the pelvis is filled with fluid, gently shaped into useful forms, as our internal organs - the bladder, the reproductive organs, and the passageways for elimination and birth.

The pelvis is bounded as well largely by fluid muscles – muscles are 80% water – among them, the gluteals, tensor fascia lata, the iliacus and psoas, the pelvic floor muscles, the deep lateral rotators and ligaments, among others, the inguinal, iliolumbar, sacrospinous and sacrotuberous ligaments.

The architecture of the pelvic bowl is elegantly composed of three bones that do not fuse until puberty. These are the ilium, the ischium and the pubis. The ilia wing out – very much like the upper “wings,” our scapulae. Those pelvic wings are in fact known as the “ala”, meaning wings, of the ilium. The ischium is more posterior and inferior, helping contribute to the lower edge of the pelvis, called the ramus (same name given to the lower edge of the mandible). The pubis is anterior, a bit lower, in front of the bladder, and the two pubic bones are connected in front by the cartilaginous joint, the publc “symphysis” – interestingly meaning “growing together” in Greek.

At first I hard time visualizing the complex geometry of these three bones, then a fond memory from childhood came to my rescue. It was none other than “Babar” the elephant, if you remember him. I had a stuffed toy of Babar who, like many animals who accompanied my childhood, I considered a kind of friend.

Note that his ears could be the ala of ilium, and, a little high, but where his crown is could be the pubis, and the ischia are sort of where his tusks are.

Another beloved elephant who captured the flying aspect of the ilia’s ala, is none other than Dumbo, who famously flew using his big ears.

In a healthy human experience, the pelvis, if not flying, is certainly floating. All too often the pelvis is overly fixated in the body, as we may hold unneeded and chronic tension in the muscles that surround it. Ida Rolf so valued the freeing and balancing of the pelvis that three of the ten sessions of Rolfing are devoted to restoring a healthy position and movement to the pelvis, from below, above and behind. Only then does she proceed to freeing the head and neck at the other end of the spine.

The sensual realm of the pelvis is much more deeply enjoyed than the opposite pole, the cranium. Associated with the first and second chakras, it helps give us the experience of feeling secure on the earth, grounded, as the freed pelvis allows force and energy to travel down further, through the legs, ankles and feet. The pelvis is linked to sexuality as well as being the passageway for all new human life. Through it we also have the passageways and sphincters for urination and defecation.

The second chakra in addition to being associated with sexuality, relates to “generativity” in this case the very generating of life, and the overall sense of arousal and excitability.

The pelvis attaches to the largest bone of the spine, the sacrum, which is the fusion of five vertebrae and therefore holds the greatest energetic charge (assuming bones “contain” energy). No wonder the compelling-ness of pelvic excitement can override the mind and has caused mighty conflicts, scandals, and offenses, along with the greatest of pleasures.

Through its muscles, especially the gluteals, we have the alluring sway that speaks to our deepest desires, promising through them some of the most wonderful satisfactions. So central is the pelvis to so much of our lives that its social regard is controversial. Many feelings – shame, love, lust, attraction, admiration excitement, revulsion – all reside in the collective unconscious in ways that can be unnerving, if we do not befriend this realm.

So, may we welcome this sexy, mostly empty space that lies at the center of each human’s world and contributes vastly to the beauty and meaningfulness of our lives.