I think it’s safe to say, we all have stress, sometimes it’s overwhelming and sometimes it feels as if it has almost floated away- even if for a small fleeting moment.
Chances are you have your go to coping mechanisms for stress, whether healthy or not, these things help you settle your nerves and continue to function in your daily life.
Let’s pause and highlight some of the not so healthy coping mechanisms I commonly see in my practice…
Overeating, undereating, alcohol use, drug use, over exercising, over consumption of media ( TV, social media, etc), and overworking, to name just a few…
These habits help you feel good because they release happy or relaxing hormones but I call these disconnection habits. At the route of disconnection habits is the seeking behaviors for an escape from reality toward instant gratification. Short term rewards are sweet and feel sooo good! Unfortunately they also push you farther from the goal of releasing and letting go of stress.
When you bandaid your stress, your unconscious mind sends the stress that you’re ignoring to areas of your body away from your consciousness. One of its favorite places is your pelvis.
I explain this to my clients as the last stop in your central nervous system. It’s your brain’s way of getting the stuff you don’t want to deal with as far from your consciousness as possible by sending it down your spinal cord and into your pelvis. The “stress” takes up residence there, safely stored in your body where you are unlikely to uncover any time soon, if ever.
I’m willing to bet you have some degree of deep seeded stress stored away in your pelvis. For many, it will remain without impact. Let me rephrase, without impact that you are able to perceive. Unfortunately, what does begin to get noticed is undesirable pelvic symptoms ranging from bladder leaks, pain with intercourse, to chronic muscle pains in the pelvis or low back.
When symptoms of this nature arise, you’re likely to seek out support from a doctor, physical therapist, chiropractor or even massage therapist. The symptoms often subside for a period of time but then return. You begin to blame yourself or seek out a new provider. It’s a pattern I’ve seen time and time again.
The missing link here is the lack of focus on nervous system regulation, aka habits and routines that support the release of stress versus the ignoring and storing of it. Many, if not all, symptoms in the pelvic system have an emotional component to them.
Holistic treatment of the pelvic health system must include a plan that addresses the physical and non-physical components of health. When I begin working with a new client I am looking at their physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, environment and social health factors. By taking this broad scope approach in my work I address not only the obvious but also the hidden factors driving your symptoms.
If you’re looking to get to the root of your pelvic symptoms once and for all, let’s chat and see what we can begin to uncover together! Book your free consultation HERE!
