The Pelvis as a Key to Vitality
EMBODIMENT
Oh, that lower back.
Hello again, stiff neck.
We often notice our bodies only when something begins to hurt. Or when it no longer ‘works’ the way it used to.
Other areas, meanwhile, can slowly disappear from view. The pelvis, for example. Especially when we are busy, experiencing a lot of stress and mainly trying to keep up with life.
Losing connection
‘But I don’t feel anything there,’ is something I often hear.
A pelvic area that — despite years of faithful service — has disappeared from the radar. Become less sensitive. Less alive.
Perhaps that isn’t so strange.
We live in a culture strongly focused on control and performance. Our minds call all the shots: everything needs to be planned, checked, double-checked, optimised and evaluated.
And then repeat.
Meanwhile, we gradually lose connection with our base, our body. As if we are living with the handbrake on. Chronic tension can show up as a belly that remains slightly contracted throughout the day. Breath that stays high in the chest. A body that never quite surrenders during touch or intimacy, but subtly braces itself instead.
What many people don’t realise is how much energy this constant holding requires.
It doesn’t only demand effort from our muscles. Something else is often dampened too:
Pleasure. Spontaneity. Space to breathe. Sensuality. Playfulness.
In short: our aliveness.
Why the pelvis?
The pelvic area is more than a collection of muscles and bones.
It carries you — quite literally. It connects your upper body to your legs, supports and protects your organs, and plays a central role in how you stand and move.
Our genitals are also located in and around this area. Movement, intimacy, sexuality and reproduction all come together here. It is an area where pleasure and enjoyment can be felt — but also hesitation, shame and a lack of safety.
Within many tantric traditions, the area around the pelvis and the base of the spine is associated with the root chakra: our ground, our foundation and the location of our vital energy.
When we lose touch with this area, begin to feel less or withdraw from it altogether, life slowly starts to feel less alive.
More sensation,
more aliveness
Vitality is about more than healthy food, enough sleep and the occasional heroic attempt at Monday-morning yoga. It is also about being able to feel. To breathe freely. To finally relax.
As the pelvis gradually becomes softer, more mobile and more perceptible, something else may begin to return: energy, presence and connection with yourself.
Just don’t expect permanent ecstasy or spontaneous enlightenment.
Feeling more does not automatically mean that everything becomes more pleasant. Greater sensation and awareness can also bring discomfort. Signals that previously remained out of view may suddenly become noticeable.
Tiredness. Sadness. Desire.
Perhaps the confronting realisation of how often you hold yourself back.
Shame. Anger. Boundaries asking for attention.
Vitality, then, does not mean constantly overflowing with energy. It means that movement becomes possible again — between tension and relaxation, feeling and acting, setting boundaries and opening.
Your body becomes a place where more of life can be experienced: the good, the bad and the ugly. And perhaps that is where vitality truly begins: in a body that feels safe enough to be present.
The pelvis within tantric bodywork
The pelvis is not a project that needs to be fixed or opened as quickly as possible.
Within tantric bodywork, I do not approach it as a part of the body that needs repairing.
You are not broken. Perhaps you simply lack the language to better understand what your body is telling you. Touch, massage, breath and movement are ways to reconnect. Not to force a particular experience, but to explore what happens.
You may notice:
More breath.
More calm.
More space in the body.
More enjoyment without immediately having to switch ‘on’.
By Noëlle ter Braak
2026 / September 9
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Credits
Photography on this website is partly sourced via Pexels.
With gratitude to the photographers Anna Shvets and Angela Roma who made these images available.