Emotional Martial Arts created by Howard E. Richmond, MD

05/10/2024

HEY San Diego friends...

SNAP's 1st Annual Howl-O-Ween!

Unforgettable afternoon with the fabulous Vicki Barbolak, straight from America's Got Talent and the Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club in Las Vegas!

Bring your pup to SNAP's first Howl-O-Ween event on October 13th at Del Mar Social! We will have six trick-or-treat stations for your pups to collect treats from SNAP, Kimball International, Amrit Shergill Realty, Kahoots Solana Beach, Pet Insurance Broker Vincent, Joe The Dog Parenting Coach and Charles Schwab Carlsbad.

Here's what we have planned:
2-3 PM * Trick-or-treating for dogs and veggie taco bar for the humans!
3-3:30 PM * Dog costume contest and live comedy show with Vicky Barbolak!
3:30PM * Awards and prizes!

We will also have a spooktacular silent auction where all earnings will go to SNAP and saving pets' lives!

This year only - an entry fee of only $10 - including food, fun, tricks, treats, contests and laughs!

RSVP to [email protected]

Pris Nelson
Elana Cohen Richmond
The Healing Field
Beachy Keen
Beachy Keen Rentals & Realty

14/08/2022

Hide & Seek: Deepening Our Understanding

In the previous email newsletter, we looked at the gift this unique time brings us to reflect on who we truly are at our core, identifying and healing old emotional reflexes. Reflecting in our quiet spaces, without the kudos and/or criticisms of society that we often accept and use to define ourselves.

During this period of having a lot of time for introspection, what if what you’ve learned about yourself does not necessarily reflect what you want, even in small or subtle ways? Or reveals places you feel you could have more grace in our life?

First, let’s remember: THERE IS NOTHING TO FIX OR SOLVE, JUST AN OPPORTUNITY TO EVOLVE. This immediately releases the JUDGE from the driver’s seat. We need not be self-critical and punish ourselves for what we did, or are doing, right or wrong. This is about self-reflection, self-awareness.

So, the first ten steps of evolution are AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS, AWARENESS.

We can have the Awareness that something within us is constricting and/or perhaps limiting us, either in a particular situation or in a fuller expression of who we can be. Just notice. Take a deep breath, maybe several. Notice if you have self-judgments about the Awareness. Notice what stories you are telling yourself about that Awareness. Does the Judge chime in? Probably. See if, by using your breath and allowing yourself to explore this process, you can set the story and the Judge aside. Just for a few minutes. If you want them back, I’m sure you’ll be able to access them again. See if you can move into an observer mode. In Emotional Martial Arts® we call this the Non-Judgmental Observer (NJO). If you are not familiar with this practice, try to look just at your “feeling” self, without the story. If you can’t access feelings, then notice what you are experiencing in your body and where. Stay present with that and see what can be revealed.

Put on some soft music in the background — something that you have a previous experience of feeling nurtured by.* Sit comfortably, close your eyes and take a few breaths. Now try on these emotions, like clothes from Nordstrom’s Rack of Emotions, one at a time. See what comes up. It might be an emotional feeling or a feeling in your body or perhaps another thought or story. Just notice, don’t judge. You can’t do this wrong.

One at time, try on:
Fear
Sadness
Guilt
Shame
Worth-less-ness
Anger
Resentment
Jealousy
Betrayal

Once you open your eyes, journal what you noticed — what you might have learned. Don’t judge it. What was revealed is your place to start (or continue) your healing journey. Even if you were not able to access any particular emotions; maybe just noticing what and how you felt in various parts of your body during the process. How do you feel afterwards? When we Recognize and Validate emotions, the tension those emotions hold can be released. Our stories and judgments can be released, or possibly minimized, as well. This is the work...Recognizing, Validating & Releasing. Lather, rinse & repeat, without Judgment as to how long it takes for our stories or the emotional charge to start to loosen their grip.

We start with our breath, which allows us to slow down the rapidity of our minds and our reactions, which allows more Awareness to flow. This Awareness and process of creating space for who you are to be revealed can bring us back closer to who we truly are at our core, embracing a broader expression of who we are!

Inner Peace, Wage It!

*If you would like to use a guided meditation for this exercise, click this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Iy8ZQ4RFA&feature=youtu.be

Go here to register for the Series
https://www.howardrichmondmd.com/ema_series/

Welcome to the next step in your journey! Enhance the quality of your life by learning tools to identify the hidden emotions that keep you from having the life you want! Are you experiencing stress or frustration with how some things are working in your life? Are you looking for a way to manage your...

23/12/2021

Original post 12/23/2016
Dr. H on Emotional Resiliency
November's Emotional Martial Arts™ event was going to be “Navigating the Holidays: How to Stay Centered in the Midst of Dysfunction.” Many in our communities have shared that these last months have been very challenging, with the unexpected loss of Dr. H, with the outcome of the recent elections and the changes that seem to be occurring because of these events.

When events shake us and/or our beliefs, we can be even more prone to being discouraged and more likely to get triggered into reaction. Dr. H teaches us that we are “entitled to our reactions,” we just don’t want to stay stuck there. Since we know we are already coming from a sensitive place and because we have the gifts and teachings from EMA, we are reminded we can be “clairvoyant”!

Remember, “emotions don’t know the calendar” so before visiting our families for the holidays, draw upon one of EMA’s key foundations — Awareness, awareness, awareness times ten and Practice, practice, practice! You can anticipate what might be said or done and you can anticipate your emotional reaction/trigger. Before you head out, RVR it — recognize and validate the emotions so they can be released! Black Belt On!™

We are so blessed to have all of Dr. H’s teachings. For me, it is profound to listen to his unconditionally-loving, non-judgmental, sweet voice speaking about how to process pain and how to navigate a terrain that now feels so unfamiliar.

Please enjoy the four-minute audio, that is part of an Emotional Martial Arts™ training called "The Intersection of Ego and Spirit."
www.HowardRichmondmd.com
Dr. H is discussing the opportunity life brings to meet in that intersection of ego and spirit, that space where we can show up as observer as well as participant. He says,
"If we are just in participant mode we tend to be in chronic reaction mode. We react and then we don’t react and then we react again. When we can cultivate the non-judgmental observer, our reactions become less intense, less frequent, and the duration of our reaction will be shorter. We develop emotional resiliency and that’s really a big part of emotional martial arts, developing emotional resiliency."

I hope your holidays are grace-filled and that you are able to utilize these wonderful teachings to transform what might feel like dysfunction into an opportunity for growth and waging inner peace.

Blessings, Elana

PS Thank you for thoughts and prayers

Thank you to so many who have reached out to me, personally, with cards, emails, FB posts, and texts. And to those who made contributions to The Healing Field Foundation, http://www.howardrichmondmd.com/donate-to-healing-field-foundation/

Your loving and heart-felt words and your stories of how Dr. H impacted your lives means so much to me. I have long felt so honored to be a part of so many’s healings and journeys into peace-filled lives, through the work he and I did together. Your love & sharing during this time has only taken it deeper for me.

We will continue this work together.

Namaste, Elana

08/09/2021

We never know how much we impact others.

I sat on my yoga mat, left hand on my heart and right hand on my belly, repeating one of my morning mantras, as I made small circular movements with my hands.
I start on my mat with setting intentions for the day: one for my body, one for my heart and one for my being. It’s the same every day.
As I started my second round of intentions — for my heart — with hands in place, I repeated my daily mantra — Kindness, Compassion, Love, Inner Peace. I’ve not really thought specifically about for whom these words are intended. Today I heard the words, “first for self and then to ripple out to others.”
I had just received a beautiful email from an old grade school friend of Howard’s, from Brazil (Howard grew up living all over the world). She explained to me that Howard was older than her and she did not know him well, although she connected with him at the last school reunion in Florida, just months before he passed. She lost her husband of 41 years this last year and she came across my email/newsletter from July 16 (Has the World Gone Mad?) and it touched and supported her in her process so she wanted to reach out to me.
She wrote: Even though I don't know you, I have felt your sorrow, as well as your love, through the emails and this journey. I just want you to know, how much I appreciate everything you are doing.
One of the many gifts Howard left me is a community of beings that loved him so much that they reach out and share with me. Her words had particular meaning to me, as these last couple of months I have struggled with a new wave of grief and I’ve been doing some deep processing and find a need to slow things way down in my life while I hold the space for the emotions, pain, healing and exhaustion.
As I have shared with you throughout these years, Emotional Martial Arts® has been my saving grace. Howard gave me the tools to deal with my grief in a way I had not been able to do in the past. To allow myself to have my feelings, no matter “how long it’s been.” When I found myself asking “why” or “how come,” I know that is my JUDGE, wanting things to be different than they are. And that hides the real issue, which are the emotions that are hidden and driving the pain. Society has tended to overtly or subtly put parameters on what grief “should" look like and how long it “should" take. EMA teaches us to allow ourselves the process without judgment. Thank goodness for that. After all, who do we owe an explanation to about who we are?!
I realized when we lost Howard that I had in the past processed my grief inward and isolated. I had learned at a young age — losing my father at the age of 7 — that others around me had a difficult time being around my expression of grief so I retreated and hid. Now, with these new EMA tools, I understood that I would need others if I was going to survive this. And that in allowing myself to let others in, I could also show that grief is ok and that we don’t have to hide. That healing is non-linear and it’s ok to allow ourselves to express what we feel without judgment. Even when someone might start to say something that is not helpful (and inadvertently hurtful), I can see it heading my way, like an incoming missile — Weapons of Mental Destruction, Howard would call it — and state with clarity — even if it’s with pain — that this is the process of grief.
As Howard’s old school friend’s words touched my heart, I realized that we never know how much we can impact others just by being our own true self and letting that be ok.
Thank you, dear Howard. And thank you to the parts of self that tap into the courage of holding our space for us to know who we truly are and to allow it be enough!
Namaste,
Elana Cohen Richmond