Robert Van Valkenburgh

(Todd) Robert Van Valkenburgh was born in New Jersey and moved to Maryland at a young age. In 1998, Robert moved to Annapolis where he lives with his wife Sidaravy. Robert is a philosophy student who loves religious as well as martial arts history and is a field service technician by trade. In his spare time, Robert enjoys being with his family.

In 1999, Robert was coming through the other side of some dark times in his life and was looking for a spiritual practice to help re-center him. A close friend and long-time student of Joe Sheya suggested that hapkido was exactly what he was looking for and introduced him to Joe. Through practice, Robert began to understand that hapkido was not only an effective martial art, but a physical representation of universal spiritual principles.

Hapkido teaches centeredness within one’s self, connectedness to one’s surroundings, and non-resistance to aggressive force. Within these principles, Robert truly found his love for hapkido. After practicing for several years, Robert took a sabbatical in order to pursue some personal goals, but has since resumed training and eventually earned his black belt. Hapkido continues to be a centering point in Robert’s life and is seen by him to be “The Way of Harmony.”

Robert studies under both Grandmaster Sheya and Master Doug McKnew and is a black belt instructor at Master McKnew’s school as well as a Reiki practitioner.

Robert also manages Hapkido: The Way of Harmony, a hapkido blog.

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