Nervous System Resets for Anxiety
Anxiety isn’t just in your head — it’s a full-body hostile takeover.
- Amy (the amygdala): slams the panic button.
- Carl (the prefrontal cortex): gets kicked out of the office.
- Hippo (the hippocampus): pulls out every embarrassing receipt from 7th grade.
- Simba (the sympathetic system): floors the gas like you’re about to wrestle a bear.
In this episode, we go full nerd and full feral. I break down what’s actually happening in your brain and body when anxiety hijacks you: limbic system alarms, HPA axis cortisol surges, vagus nerve chill resets — explained in plain language.
Then I hand you six science-backed nervous system resets you can actually use in the middle of a spiral.
Think:
- Grounding tricks that hijack Amy’s mic
- Cold water hacks that scuba dive panic away
- Progressive muscle relaxation that tucks Simba in for a nap
- Plus more tools that double as real-time circuit breakers
Each reset comes with the science, the step-by-step, and a translation you’ll actually remember at 2 a.m.
By the end, you’ll have a fridge-worthy list of anxiety resets that pull you back from time-traveling brain bullshit and drop you into the only place you actually have power: right the fuck here.
What is Combative Calm?
This isn’t your sugary, sweet, diabetes-inducing healing podcast.
This is Combative Calm—where nervous system regulation meets rage rituals, somatic releases, and spicy affirmations laced with f-bombs to unfck your trauma responses.
Hosted by Sarai Speer—a trauma-informed yoga + meditation teacher, somatic healer, and high-energy bitch who tells it like it is—this show delivers real tools, not toxic positivity.
It’s trauma-informed, nervous system-rooted healing for the emotionally constipated, burnout-curious, high-functioning humans who are done pretending they’re fine.
It’s time to regulate your shit.