The Northern Beaches Hapkidoist Investor  

It all started with the landmark arrival of Stewart Laughton’s 40th birthday, a pivotal turning point in many a bloke’s life, but especially so for the Manly father of three and director of Twyford Hawk Investments. “My main goal was to lose some weight,” explains Stewart. “I’d let myself go, too many beers, I knew I needed to get back on track, trim down, and that an F45 or faddy sort of gym, that wasn’t going to work for me.” 

Stewart asked a good friend who was a Black Belt in Karate if being 40 years old was indeed too many decades in the tooth to try martial arts. “Of course not, mate, go for it.” Stewart soon discovered Northern Beaches Hapkido in Brookvale, offering three trial sessions for imminent martial artists to try out the Dojang. 

“I was pretty much hooked from the outset and thought wow, this is the real deal, 90-minute sessions with stretching, high intensity movements, learning new self-defence skills, even finishing with meditation. It was exactly what I needed, and the Masters, they were so impressive, it was clear they’d dedicated their lives to this.”

Stewart’s radar was spot on, with Northern Beaches Hapkido overseen by none other than the President of the Australian Hapkido Association and Australasian Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee, 6th Degree Black Belt, Hapkido Master Matt Geister. 

“When I was 12 a martial artist did a demonstration at our school, and I was so drawn to the way he moved, how he carried himself,” says Master Matt. “I became a Black Belt in Taekwondo and later also in Karate, then was lucky enough to train under Grand Master Sung Su Kim, who brought Hapkido to Australia with his brother. We used to travel to Oxford Street four to five times per week to train with him, all during and after my HSC in 1984.” 

Translating to the Art of Co-ordinated Power, Hapkido traces back to Choi Yong-Sul, born in South Korea in 1904. Taken from his home as a boy during the Japanese occupation of Korea, Choi was forced to become a servant to a Japanese Aikido Grand Master, finally returning to Korea after World War II, and fusing Japanese Aikido with Korean Taekwondo, teaching his art at a brewery owned by the father of his first student!

“In Hapkido you don’t fight force with force,” explains Master Matt. “You go with the forces being applied and learn to divert them away, or apply joint locks to stop your opponent, becoming equipped to handle virtually any situation.”

This universal appeal to all shapes and sizes, men and women, young and old, has ensured the ongoing appeal, popularity, and utility of Hapkido, especially for women who may otherwise feel vulnerable in the community. Short Women’s Self-Defence Courses are very popular for these instructors. 

While for Stewart, now 18 months into his Hapkido journey, the results are clear. “On a personal level, losing 8kilos and sustaining it has been incredibly positive for my marriage, my quality of health, my focus. It provides fantastic structure to my life, and I’m never bored, always learning, always lowoking forward to the next session.” 

On a professional level, with Stewart’s work in investment management requiring the sharpest of focus, “My Hapkido practice reinforces the importance of structure and process. Everything is a process. Don’t rush things. Work hard and focus every step of the way and the best outcomes arrive from there.”