When you engage in playtime with a Dominant your body is the canvas for sensation and pleasure. You can run the gamut of emotions and many of them can take you by surprise. It’s not uncommon even for someone who plays regularly to be shocked by a new reaction to a play activity that they have experienced before. This goes beyond the bruising, scratching and other physical results of play. Here are just a few of the more common reactions to play.
Shivers
Shivers are brought on by adrenaline in your system. It’s a natural coping mechanism when dealing with pain and is why a lot of people who go into shock start shivering. Not all people will shiver because of adrenaline though. Some shiver because of nervousness. During nervous shivers your inactive mind send a message to all your body parts without telling your active mind to control the normal functioning of your body. This will cause the slight trembles.
Leatherbutt
While I’ve never experienced this first hand, I have heard it talked about as a condition of a body part, typically your butt after/during a long impact play session. The sensations you were feeling become numbed, the nerves stop sending messages of pain to the brain and you can even feel like your skin has leathered up.
Dizziness/Light-headedness
When you feel dizzy or light-headed this could signal an episode of low blood sugar. You can read about nondiabetic hypoglycemia at WebMD. It can happen when you haven’t had enough to eat or drink before a session. I encourage you to eat right and get enough to drink at least 30 minutes before playing. You can keep sports drinks on hand during play to make sure the bottom (not that bottom) is hydrated and well. No one should continue playing when suddenly feeling ill, it is a sign of distress.
To aid someone suffering from a bout of low blood sugar make sure you keep simple sugars on hand, orange juice is a good suggestion. If not treated, the person could go into shock or become unconscious.
Crying
Tears are a normal release of emotions. They could be from the pain you are enduring or from bottled up emotions that all of a sudden come to the surface during play. A lot of times I play for catharsis, or because I want/need to cry and a good spanking or flogging can do that for me. Almost as good as therapy!
Laughing
When we laugh there is an actual chemical change in our bodies that helps to ease pain and release stress. When I say stress, it’s not the negative stress, but the physical pain we may be engaged in or the tension of the scene. Laughing helps to positively release that stress and encourages the body to improve pain tolerances.
I’m known to break out in giggle fits immediately after an intense scene as a result of the endorphins running through my bloodstream. Endorphins cause different reactions in people and laughing happens to be mine.
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Anytime you put your body under stress; and you do that every time you play, you can be exposed to a large range of responses. What ways does your body respond to sensations and tension you are under when you play?
photo by Samael Trip
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My name is lunaKM and I’m a full-time submissive in a D/s relationship. I am webslut to 
Thank you! Wonderful post!
I am definitely a shivers and laughter girl! :D
This was a very helpful article. I stumbled upon your site a few weeks ago, and have found it to be a terribly useful source of information. This article particularly so, as I have had several of the reactions you mention. I’m quite new to being a submissive, but was fortunate enough to find a Domina who has been guiding and teaching me. I had non-stop shivers during a recent session (not from cold), and a previous session ended with tears and a giggle fit. (The tears were particularly shocking at the time, as this is something I rarely do.) She reassured me at the time that these were normal reactions, and your article helped to reinforce and further explain these phenomina. Thanks, again.