#44 - The Pelvis as a Bowl: Emotions, Boundaries, and Letting Go

The pelvis is more than a place where the legs meet the body: it’s a center of movement, creation, sensation, and letting go.

From the pelvic floor and hip tension to the mind-body connection, Kelly and Nyssa explore the pelvis as both a physical structure and a rich metaphor for how we contain—and release—what we carry. They discuss the pelvis through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the lower jiao, alongside ideas about embodiment, emotional “armoring,” stress, creativity, and the body’s capacity to receive. 

The conversation also wanders through the sacrum, Kundalini and Qigong practices, the hara and lower dantian, and the challenge of bringing our ideals into material life. What might change when we stop living only in our heads and listen to the wisdom of the body?

Main Topics Covered:

• Why the pelvis is a physical and symbolic meeting point

• The pelvis as a bowl: what we hold, contain, and release

• The lower jiao in Traditional Chinese Medicine

• Pelvic tension, emotional armoring, and the stress response

• The connection between jaw awareness and pelvic-floor awareness

• The pelvis, desire, intimacy, boundaries, and agency

• The sacrum, Kundalini, and Qigong’s microcosmic orbit

• The hara, lower dantian, and bringing attention into the body

• Shadow, shame, and parts of ourselves we may disown

• Embodiment as a bridge between ideals and material reality