53. Sexy after 50: Why Desire Goes Offline

What if the problem isn’t your desire…but your nervous system?In this episode of 34o – The Intimacy Podcast, Henrik sits down with therapist Julie Merriman, host of Sexy After 50, to explore the deeper connection between stress, safety, embodiment and desire.For many women, especially in midlife, loss of desire is often blamed on hormones, age or biology.What if the body isn’t broken?What if it’s protecting itself?This is a conversation about:• Why desire often shuts down under chronic stress• How shame and pressure disconnect people from their bodies• The nervous system’s role in intimacy and pleasure• Why numbness is often protection, not dysfunction• What happens to relationships when desire goes offline• And what it actually takes to feel alive againJulie shares insights from nearly 30 years of therapeutic work helping women reconnect with themselves, not through performance or pressure, but through safety, regulation and embodiment.Because maybe desire doesn’t disappear randomly.Maybe it responds to the environment we live in… and the body we’ve learned to survive in.34o – The Intimacy PodcastRedefining love, trust & how we connect