Morgan Chandler makes the papers

Our second daughter and newly appointed senior black belt has made the regional paper with her recent karate triumph. Read the story featured in the Asbury Park Press below to share our pride in Morgan's remarkable dedication, perseverance, and all-round achievement in an ancient and strenuous art:

FAIR HAVEN – After completing a grueling, non-stop four-hour test, that’s comparable to any military boot camp, Morgan Almasy and Morgan Chandler were three planks of wood away from making history.

The two Morgans have joined an elite group at Fair Haven Martial Arts, becoming two of only 20 people to obtain their black belts under Sensei Jim Pawlak. But what makes Almasy and Chandler so remarkable is that they’ve received their adult black belts, at ages 14 and 10.

Jim Pawlak opened Fair Haven Martial arts in 2007. In that time, he’s never seen the level of discipline and determination shown by both girls during their test this past May.

“I’ve been teaching martial arts for 20 years,” Pawlak said. “These girls were the two most impressive people to ever test for a black belt.”

Both girls have dedicated half of their young lives to perfecting Shotokan Karate. The older Morgan (Almasy) has been a student since the age of 7, and the younger Morgan (Chandler) since age 5.

At first glance, it would be hard to think these girls, who are small in stature and sweet in personality, would be able to go through such a physically draining experience. Despite having the distinct honor of being the dojo’s first females in 10 years to receive a black belt, both girls remain humble.

“It’s definitely a big honor,” 10-year old Chandler said, with a big smile on her face. “I feel like it really changes your life. “Once you put that belt on, you feel like a different person. You feel more fearless.”

The test to become a black belt is seemingly nothing to shake your head at.

The first hour was dedicated to showcasing the nearly 100 techniques they’ve learned over the years, including a variety of punching, kicking, and blocking combinations. The next sequence was to do 150 round kicks in 90 seconds.

“That was definitely one of the hardest things about the test,” Almasy said.

This was followed by a 55-move kata, which is a rehearsed fighting sequence. After a non-stop sparring session for an hour with other students of various skill sets, the final part of the test is breaking three boards with a flying side kick, a wheel kick, finished off with a forward elbow strike.

The test wasn’t just difficult for the girls, it also was just as daunting for the parents to watch their girls go through something so challenging.

“As a parent, seeing that level of accomplishment at a young age is amazing,” Bob Chandler, the younger Morgan’s father said. “Seeing the girls go through something for so long, with only little water breaks in between was difficult. As parents, we were saying, ‘My God, can they sustain this level of intensity?’ But the girls didn’t waver even a little bit during it.”

The Morgan duo plan on continuing their martial arts training, even though they’ve already reached the top of the mountain. The skills they have learned under Sensei Jim are ones they can use in many facets of life.

“I like how you learn things that you can use outside of karate,” Almasy said. “It helps keep me focused, and has helped with my flexibility in dance class.”

Sensei Jim emphasizes that the girls shouldn’t say that they have black belts, but that they are black belts.

Article by APP Staff Writer and Editorial Intern Ryan Norton: rnorton@gannettnj.com

The Circles of "Holacracy" And How They Are Changing The Workplace

Future growth (and remarkable success in the present) has everything to do with realizing the true human potential of your company. Who are your key players?  How do we encourage people to go that extra step? Communication, motivation, morale, inspiration—we like to think there’s no glass ceiling on it all, but many often scratch their heads wondering how to get more. 

Recent discussions have been bubbling up with one gutsy—but promising—strategy of intimidating proportions: eliminate the corporate hierarchy. Even if in totality. 

That isn’t to say a “lawless,” leaderless society is becoming the trend (although there are companies like Valve video games that have become one). Many are simply suggesting that a business model of the industrial age is incompatible with modern workplace environments. Harvard business school professor Ethan Bernstein stresses that "It was a way of organizing labor such that the division of labor would be more productive and would be able to do tasks better repeatedly in a predictable way”.

That style of working, beyond manual labor, is indeed fundamentally counterintuitive to the agility of modern business. Vertical hierarchies are flattening. Synergy is basing itself on sideways communication, a self-sufficient team often outpacing those shepherded by a single mind. The evidence is there, as even some of the most successful and innovative brands like Zappos are taking advantage of what’s called the “Holacracy”.

Image via Holacracy.org

The Holacracy is one example of several new-age, pro-individual options. 35-year-old programming wizard Brian Robertson brought it to conception, offering a company that charges a fee to gradually segue your workforce into one that replaces titles with dispersed authority and flexible “roles”. Decisions are not given to manager status, they’re spread between department “circles”, each with a soft leader that encourages communication between other circles and cohesion within the team. These leaders can change or be bypassed at any time, encouraging fluidity in a wake of rigidity and linearity.

Madness? Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh claims it lies far from it. 

“Research shows that every time the size of a city doubles, innovation or productivity per resident increases by 15 percent. But when companies get bigger, innovation or productivity per employee generally goes down,” says Hsieh on the Zappos blog. “We're trying to figure out how to structure Zappos more like a city, and less like a bureaucratic corporation.”

Can Holacracy-style systems be the future of the modern workplace? Is the traditional corporate hierarchy dead? It’s too early to tell, but one Forbes article probes into its current state of affairs. 

While severance packages have enticed 14% of the Zappos workforce to abandon ship, this might be a good thing—a purge of the unmotivated and the disillusioned. It’s difficult to tell what are red flags and what are inevitable growing pains at this early stage. Misunderstandings come amid criticisms from executives hoping for it to fail. Numbers are inconclusive. 

“It’s either the future of management or a social experiment gone awry,” says Aimee Groth of Quartz. Time will only tell if Zappos, Medium, and others are at the forefront of business management innovation. For now, all we can do is watch with. Apprehension for some, excitement for others. 

Emotional responses hold major key to physical healing process

Recent news in the medical field has shown that there is more to healing than the medicine you are given or the quality of the technology. 

Observances and studies now show a trend that suggests the emotional support you receive plays a crucial role, both physically and mentally. Whether it is art therapy, the presence of family, or the coordination of a therapist with your rehabilitation plan, engaging positive emotional responses as part of recovery is almost as important as direct conventional medical interventions.

One article, for example, insists that children who partake in hospital art therapy are given a chance “to explore a negative emotion” and “process it in a safe place,” leading to faster healing, less use of pain medication, lowered anxiety, and more healthy days post-trauma. 

Another study from Johns Hopkins shows that those who had regular phone calls to an emotional therapist post-surgery participated in physical therapy and home exercises at higher rates and with less pain, with 74% of participants experiencing “significant improvements” in functioning and pain levels.

The benefits don’t need to come from deliberate and regimented programs either. Other findings show the simple presence of family in the hospital to have astounding positive effects on the subconscious. 

Image via unsplash.com

The effectiveness of marital support was unquestioned by a study that showed male patients of coronary-bypass surgery with high marital support took less pain medication and recovered faster than those married and with low support, despite all being of the same preoperative physical status.

Even when in a coma, findings in a recent paper from Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, credited to Northwestern Medicine and Hines VA Hospital, show areas of the brain to light up when hearing the voices of family members, even aiding an awakening from a vegetative state. 

“We have definitive evidence to answer the age-old question: if your mom talks to you in a coma, can you hear her, and does it have an effect?” says lead author Theresa Pape, “The answer is yes.” 

The common variables of anchoring emotions to something familiar and evoking subconscious connotations of safety would suggest a psychological effect that translates into healing. The trend is highlighted in this study, which shows “psychological variables,” including anger or stress, hinder recovery, and that positive interventions accommodate it.

Further research, particularly in that of pediatric art therapy, could lead to changes in the way healing is viewed and approached in hospitals. Physical processes are very much dependent on prior or current emotional states, and it will be interesting to see how medicine accommodates. 

Important Family News From the Front

Rocking up on Fair Haven Martial Arts (FHMA) this past Saturday night was, as it’s been hundreds of times before, as routine as a bowl of oatmeal. Small, flat red brick building sitting a few doors down from an Acme. Strip-mall paradise! No big deal.

We walk in at 6PM and there are 20 kids finishing up at a birthday party. (The place often gets used that way on Saturdays. It’s been a favorite place for the community for more than a decade.)  Kids file out and Morgan sees her way through the crowd of noisy boys and girls saying goodbye to their friends.

The place soon falls silent. The contrast from only moments earlier is striking. After five years of hard work and dedication, Morgan takes a few moments to quietly reflect on the biggest day of her life. This day is all about her black belt in karate and at this moment she is in her small, red brick cathedral. She’s trying to get her head around the fact that she is the only female in 10 years -- girl or woman -- to have come this close to FHMA’s ultimate reward.

I don’t know who was sweating more at first, Morgan, or me and her mom. After the three-and-a-half hour test, it’s abundantly clear she gave up everything to the floor of the dojo.  It was so grueling that one of our best friends, who is an Army Ranger, said it was absolutely comparable to boot camp.  First, one hour of drills, stretches, and a cardio-boosting warmup. We, all her friends and family, watched nervously as her face settled from wide-eyed anticipation to a knife-sharp focus. Next, 150 sidekicks in 90 seconds proved to be a formidable obstacle, but one she overcame with six seconds to spare.

A quick water break was the only thing between her and one hour of sparring. With a face of fearless determination nestled inside a helmet of yellow foam, Morgan cycled through opponents twice her size and skill level without a flinch. Quick blocks and big kicks were dished out like it was her job. By this point, however, it had been two-and-a-half hours, and you could tell. Morgan pulled her helmet off and pushed handfuls of wet hair away from what was now a radish red face, panting and puffing. She was clearly hoping that her cathedral would lift her up and give her the nourishment she needed to finish.

Camera can't keep up with Morgan v. Morgan!

In great contrast to the sparring, the Kata was up next; a choreographed procession of more than 60 elegant moves requiring deep concentration and flawless execution. The room was hushed as family and friends watched with eagerness and deep-seated nerves. After one practice run and a pointer or two from Sensei Jim, Morgan ran it again and nailed it, flawlessly. Naturally, the small triumph was short-lived.

“Time for the perseverance test,” Jim announced with an apologetic smile. Morgan put her hands on her hips and stood still for a moment as she digested what was about to come for the next 30 minutes. Push-ups, crunches, burpees, planks and more hit Morgan like a ton of bricks, in what felt like an endless cycle of repetition. We all groaned and squirmed, bashfully admitting we wouldn’t be able to keep up. Our bewilderment grew each time a new set of exercises was requested.

Morgan made it. But it took her close to the edge. Many back-belt contenders have a hard time coming back from this point. Next up, the reading of her report on what a black belt means to her.  Immediately following that: the breaking of boards! The realization that she had reached her last obstacle completely juiced her. She perked up with optimism as 10-year-olds do, and cracked each board with ease, a spectacle of showmanship that received heated applause and unbridled relief for the end of her saga.

Morgan cracks one clean with her elbow.

The three-and-a-half hour odyssey came to a conclusion with the three Senseis disappearing to the back room without a word. They returned with the coveted black belts, one for her and one for the other Morgan being tested, who is three years older.

Jim stood in front of the two girls kneeling, wide-eyed with a beaming smile, relentlessly gushing about flawless attitudes and mind-blowing dedication, toughness, and tenacity.  Morgan, in particular, was lauded for her fearlessness in sparring, physical strength, and work ethic in a speech that warmed my heart, and everyone else’s, I’m sure.

To see our little girl formally achieve the expert level was astonishing. Sensei Jim pointed out, “Here forward, you will never say I have a black belt, you will always say I am a black belt.”

Hey Morgan, no big deal!