Combative Calm

• The Uninvited Dinner Guest: A Guided Meditation for Holiday Grief

  This episode isn’t your usual holiday meditation filled with cheerful tunes and sparkly sentiments. Instead, it’s for those who feel the weight of the season pressing down on them.If you’re mourning someone you’ve loved, someone who’s slipping away, or even a version of yourself that feels lost, this meditation is for you.It’s also for anyone carrying the collective heaviness of the world right now. Together, we’ll explore breathwork, grounding techniques, and a deep visualization that invites you to face your grief head-on. This isn’t about fixing or glossing over it: it’s about acknowledging it, giving it a space in your heart, and simply being with those heavy emotions that linger, despite all the pressure to be jolly.I share Rumi’s poem “The Guest House,” which is central to this practice. It’s a reminder that grief is a visitor, not a punishment or a mark of failure. Together, we’ll explore breathwork, grounding techniques, and a deep visualization that encourages you to face your grief openly. This isn’t about fixing things or pretending they’re better than they are. It’s about acknowledging your feelings, making space for them in your heart, and simply being present with those heavy emotions that linger, even when there’s pressure to feel cheerful.If the holidays feel especially overwhelming, hollow, or sharp for you, I invite you to take a moment with me. Let’s breathe together, sit with what hurts, and remember that you don’t have to shine brightly to get through this season. If you can find just 15 minutes, you have enough time to uncover a little softness amidst the heaviness.

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• The Calm That Found Its Way: A Dr. Seuss-Style Guided Meditation

  This isn’t your grandma’s meditation — it’s Dr. Seuss meets nervous-system healing.If you’ve ever tried to host, decorate, shop, and “stay present” all at once, this episode is your invitation to drop the glitter and breathe.Inspired by The Grinch and my lifelong love of Dr. Seuss, this 9-minute guided meditation is equal parts poetic and practical — a story-time exhale for anyone drowning in seasonal perfectionism, fake smiles, or family drama.We’ll breathe. We’ll rhyme. We’ll laugh a little at how ridiculous it all is.And somewhere in there, your shoulders will drop two inches, your nervous system will chill out, and you might even remember what peace feels like.Perfect for: • hiding in your car before another family dinner • crying about the mashed potatoes • or needing one damn moment that’s actually about youPut in your earbuds, close your eyes, and let’s get weirdly calm together.

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  9:02

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  9:02
• The Rest That Stole Perfection: Nervous System Resets

  If you’ve ever hosted a holiday that looked picture-perfect and secretly wanted to crawl under the table mid-dinner—this one’s for you.In this Dr. Seuss-inspired episode, Sarai gets real about the overachiever spiral that turns “festive” into “fight-or-flight.” From curated chaos to the silent panic of being everyone’s emotional support human, she calls out the bullshit of holiday perfectionism and gives your body something it actually needs: rest & reset.You’ll learn grounding, gentle nervous-system resets that help you unclench from performance mode and drop back into presence—like bilateral tapping to calm your brain’s alarm system, progressive muscle relaxation to release tension, slow sways that tell your body it’s safe again, and a few small but powerful ways to move energy without losing your mind.This isn’t hustle culture’s version of self-care. It’s the antidote.So take off the matching pajamas, leave the dishes, and join your own nervous system for once.Perfection’s overrated. 

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  17:54

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  17:54
• Resting Grinch Face: A Survival Guide for Holiday Perfectionists

  If the holidays make you want to chug eggnog straight from the carton, this one’s for you.This Dr. Seuss–inspired episode is equal parts poetry, nervous system science, and dark comedy for anyone drowning in tinsel and expectations.Sarai shares her infamous “I threw up on Thanksgiving dinner” story (yes, really) to unpack how perfectionism, family pressure, and performative holiday joy mess with your nervous system. Between rhymes and raw truth, she calls out the glitter-coated bullshit of “holiday cheer” culture—because no amount of matching pajamas can regulate your cortisol.You’ll get anti-perfection affirmations like: It’s honest, hysterical, and healing as hell.By the end, you’ll want to trade your sparkle for sanity and declare yourself deep in your Resting Grinch Phase—and finally mean it.

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  7:58

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  7:58
• 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.

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  26:59

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  26:59

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