Good news, I can see you in person again soon! I'll re-open osteopathic and doula services tomorrow (11 June 2021). And online bookings are back so you can check my availability at your convenience.
The limitations of this lockdown have given me time to listen to my own body without the noise of the outside world interrupting. That isn't always an easy thing, our bodies can be quite demanding.
I've been using this simple pelvic exercise to help me tune in and unwind. I call it the pelvic tilt and circle. My friend and teacher Nina Isabella calls it spinning the dinner plate. It is a slow dynamic movement that reduces tension and holding patterns in the pelvis by bringing awareness to where you feel stuck.
- Find a comfortable place to lie on your back with your knees bent. Settle your feet and knees in alignment with your hips.
- Begin gently rocking your pelvis, tilting it up towards your head and away again.
- You can synchronise your breath if it feels good - exhale as you tilt up, inhale as you tilt away.
- Gradually turn the tilt into a circular movement, mindfully moving around the full range of pelvic motion. This gently massages the myofascial tissues, organs and joints, and increases circulation and strength in your whole lower body.
- Keep the movement slow, feel into places where you might be holding tension and pause if you need.
- Circle in both directions, come back to the rocking tilt, lift your hips up into a gentle bridge for a few seconds, or find any other movement that your body enjoys today.
- Give your belly a grateful rub and take some long slow breaths to finish.
It is amazing how much we hold in this part of our body. Just a minute or two of attention here can help you become more mindful of your stress levels, of any unhelpful daily habits and postures, or emotions that may need expressing.
As Tami Lynn Kent says in her book Wild Feminine, tending your pelvic bowl is like tending the land. It requires small daily tasks and seasonal work that builds and transforms the landscape over time.
With this lovely image of your body as a landscape in mind, I'd like to share one final thought... how can you be more like your place? Tyson Yunkaporta asks this question in his book Sand Talk. He continues to ask; can you find ways to express the place you are in relationship with? can you let place change your voice, your smell, your walk, your morality?
I love thinking about this. As someone who grew up in Sydney and is now settled in Melbourne, what is it that makes me feel so much more comfortable here? How has this place changed me? How am I expressing my Melbourne-ness?
And also in relation to the weather and season of my place... how am I expressing the wild, wet, windy weather, the new moon, the deep dark nights of warin (wombat) season, almost winter solstice? I know we are definitely going to bed earlier and sleeping longer at our house. And I notice I am listening to my body more, moving more slowly.
I hope you can let a little part of your place and your pelvis be expressed this month.
Much love,
Emily
