  Many models of Higgs portal Dark Matter (DM) find themselves under pressure
from increasingly tight direct detection constraints. In the framework of gauge
field DM, we study how such bounds can be relaxed while retaining the thermal
WIMP paradigm. When the hidden sector gauge symmetry is broken via the Higgs
mechanism, the hidden sector generally contains unstable states which are
lighter than dark matter. These states provide DM with an efficient
annihilation channel. As a result, the DM relic abundance and the direct
detection limits are controlled by different parameters, and the two can easily
be reconciled. This simple setup realizes the idea of `secluded' dark matter
naturally.
