on the nature of bliss - and why your nervous system holds the key to tantra
- danni | snatch.land
- May 23
- 3 min read
Many of us are trying to feel pleasure from a nervous system that’s stuck in ‘on mode’
We might chase intimacy while somatically bracing for impact - holding our breath, contracting, seeking excitement through tension and the unknown, striving from a place that isn’t really grounded, but enjoying the thrill sympathetic nervous system activation brings to life lived on the edge
When we speak of deeply rooted pleasure —the kind that melts time, dissolves the edges of self and roots us in the now —we are speaking of a nervous system in harmony
This state arises within the ‘rest+restore’ parasympathetic branch, when both ventral and dorsal vagal states are integrated within safety
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The Ventral Vagal Pathway is the seat of connection - the part of your nervous system that says: I’m here + I’m safe with you
It allows for eye contact, breath, co-regulation, intimacy, attunement
It’s your access to presence — the foundation of all sacred s+xuality
The Dorsal Vagal Pathway, when paired with a sense of threat, collapses us into shutdown
BUT the interesting thing is that, when the dorsal activates within safety + trust, a portal opens…
To surrender
To immobility without fear
To the void
To a state that Tantra has always spoken of —where we become formless, timeless and can sense the divine
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When both branches are active in harmony —
Ventral grounding us in presence and relational safety,
Dorsal pulling us into profound stillness and cellular release —We touch bliss
Not the bliss of peak and climax —
this state has little to do with s+xuality as we know it… and more to do with meditation
It’s the bliss of losing your Self,
a form of merging into all that is
becoming one — with your partner, your breath, the earth, or something greater
Tantric traditions describe this as the moment when Shiva and Shakti unite within the body
Stillness meets aliveness
Structure dissolves into the eternal erotic pulse of the universe
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But this sacred union (which ultimately is with the universe) isn’t accessible to everyone right away
Trauma — especially pre-natal, birth, and early childhood experiences — can deeply impact the development of your nervous system’s ventral vagal pathway
This pathway is the gateway to feeling safe, seen and connected to others
It’s the foundation for trust, emotional regulation and the capacity to relax into pleasure as described above
With a dorsal system imprinted before safety was available, such states were linked with neglect, abandonment, disconnection — not rest
The nervous system learns:
Safety is unreliable
Connection might hurt
Your system will naturally default to hypervigilance, mistrust or withdrawal
Co-regulation feels unsafe or impossible
Breath may stay shallow
The body tense, guarded, ready to respond
Surrender may feel like disappearing
Stillness may feel like death
And ‘relaxation’ might send the body into freeze, not flow…
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This is an intelligent survival strategy —
a body doing exactly what it needed to do
Healing means we re-pattern the experience of going inward
We build ventral tone — presence, safety, connection —so the dorsal system can soften, and open over time with trust
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The nervous system path to Tantra isn’t just through energy or breath — but repairing the relational and physiological roots of safety through Somatic Experiencing practices
In Orienting to Pleasure, we don’t chase or force sensation…
We cultivate the space and conditions for it to gently unfold on its own
✨Your body knows the way home ✨
We start 1st June
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DANNI LOVEFOX
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