Holiday Grief, Ham Defense, and the Art of Barely Holding It Together

This one’s different. It’s longer. It’s raw. It’s 26 minutes of dark humor, grief, and real talk about surviving the holidays when everything feels too damn heavy.

We’re talking anticipatory grief (the kind that hits before loss), family chaos, and that weird cultural pressure to “be merry” when you’re just trying not to throw a ham at someone. I share about losing my best friend, watching my dad slip away, and the invisible grief that nobody brings a casserole for.

This episode blends comedy, science, and heartbreak. It’s messy and real—because so are the holidays. You’ll laugh, maybe cry, probably snort, and definitely feel seen.

It’s not a healing guide. It’s a nervous system survival plan for the emotionally fried and spiritually feral.
Sorry not sorry—it’s the most human episode I’ve ever recorded.

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.