The Profound Connection Between the Jaw and the Pelvis

Source: @luisaalexandre Instagram

Did you know that the jaw and pelvis are physiologically connected, and that the alignment and relaxation of each deeply affects the other? Did you know that when we relax and soften the jaw, the same relaxation occurs in the pelvis and in the muscles of the pelvic floor?

If you visualize your pelvic bowl, with the hips on either side, and then you focus on your jaw, you will notice that they have anatomically similar structures. The top jaw and the large opening of the mouth are very similar to the top and base joints of the pelvic floor, and the biological tissue of the cervix is very connected to the tissue of the throat. In fact, the word cervix is the Latin word for neck. The jaw and pelvis are also connected on a cellular and fascial level--there is a large fascial line that runs from the tip of the coccyx (the tailbone) to the tip of the tongue.

Those anatomical similarities hint at an important piece of birth knowledge: When the jaw and throat are relaxed, the buttocks and pelvis will be, too, which greatly impacts the ease of labor. My own mother, who birthed three babies without medication and with no complications, shared with me, “I was given good advice before my birth. ‘Let your jaw be so relaxed that if you had false teeth, they would fall out of your mouth.’” She attributes a large part of her ability to birth naturally, to this priceless advice she received before the birth of her first child.