Pelvic pain: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What pelvic pain is

The pelvis is the ring of bone at the base of the trunk, made of the two hip bones and the sacrum. It links the spine to the legs, carries the weight of the upper body, and holds the bladder, the bowel and the reproductive organs. Pelvic pain is pain felt low in the tummy, between the hips, or deep inside that bowl.

It has many causes. In women, common ones are period pain, endometriosis, ovarian cysts and pelvic inflammatory disease, an infection of the womb and tubes. In anyone, pain can come from the bladder, as in cystitis, from the bowel, as in irritable bowel syndrome or constipation, from the appendix, from a hernia, or from tense pelvic floor muscles. In men, the prostate can be involved. Pelvic girdle pain is common in pregnancy, and a fall can break the pelvis in older people with thin bones.

Treatment depends on the cause, which is why pelvic pain that is new, severe or keeps coming back needs a doctor. Sudden severe pain in someone who could be pregnant is an emergency.

The emotional meaning of the pelvis

The pelvis both joins and separates the upper and lower halves of the skeleton. Every movement of walking and acting starts from here. Spiritually, the pelvis stands for the feeling of being safe enough to throw yourself into life. It also stands for power in all its forms: it is the bowl that gathers the energies of power that feed the ego.

Afraid to move forward

Difficulty in the pelvis can show a fear of going forward in life, and a tendency to cling to the past. The ground does not feel solid enough to launch from.

Everyone's mother

Because a child is carried in the pelvis, pain here can be linked to your own beginnings, and to frustrations you may have felt towards your parents, especially your mother. You may have taken on a great many responsibilities very early, and recreate that today by trying to be "everyone's mother".

Someone you cannot welcome

Pelvic discomfort can also come when, for whatever reason, you cannot welcome a person into your life. It may be a baby. It may be someone you would like to take into your home and cannot. Your family's security and your sense of independence then feel under threat.

Pleasure you do not feel you deserve

The pelvis is linked to sexual energy and to pleasure of every kind. You may cut yourself off from the pleasant sensations of life because you feel you do not deserve them. You may also have felt betrayed, or felt that someone dealt you a low blow, and stay on the defensive. When fear, insecurity, anger and powerlessness are held here, they can turn into a conflict around sexuality.

Basic needs set aside

Pelvic trouble can also point to undervaluing your basic needs: a home, food, intimacy. The question is how much weight you give each part of your life, so that it rests on solid, healthy foundations.

Shooting pains: launching yourself into life

Pain in the pelvis is often felt as sharp, shooting pains, élancements in French. The word fits, because s'élancer means to launch yourself, to spring forward. The pelvic region, held up by the hips, is what lets you move and throw yourself into life or into a new project.

That project may be bringing a child into the world. It may also be giving birth to yourself: new attitudes, new ways of behaving. It asks for communication, sexual or between people. Spiritually, shooting pains here can mean you hesitate to commit to a project or a relationship. Or the opposite: you struggle to step out of a responsibility, a relationship, a job or a promise. You feel caught. In French, someone is "tightening the screw" on you, on me serre la vis: your freedom is being squeezed.

A pelvis that twists again and again

A pelvis that keeps going out of line points to a gap between what you aspire to, in your mind and your deepest wishes, and your daily, material life. "There is so much I would like to do, but I can't, because…" The question is which "because" you could look at again.

A gentler way to hold it

The aim is not to blame yourself for pelvic pain. Organs, muscles, joints, hormones and infections play a real part, and the warning signs above need a doctor. The emotional perspective invites you to look at how safe you feel to move forward, and how much pleasure you allow yourself.

• Trust your decisions. Choose one new direction and let yourself take a first step into it.
• Put down the role of everyone's mother. Hand back one responsibility that was never yours.
• Let pleasure in. Give yourself something simple that feels good, without having to earn it.
• Empty the bowl of power. You do not need to win control back. Joy, confidence and faith in what you do weigh less.
• Love yourself as you are. Let life circulate rather than holding everything in the pelvis.
• Look after the foundations. A home, good food, rest and closeness deserve a real place in your life.
• Check your "because". Ask which of your reasons for not acting still holds.