Ryan Girvan is one of the coaches that we found this month and we did a little interview with him. He impressed us with his courage and strength of character.
He went through a hard upbringing. He was the oldest of 4 siblings who had disabilities so all of the responsibility fell on his back. In 2014 he lost his grandma and year after his mother. He was living a life of going out, drinking, doing drugs… but something stronger within him didn’t let him continue down that path.
He had a greater dream. Something so powerful that screamed “change your life” within him, every night he would come home. Despite all of his suppressed emotions and traumas, he stopped. He focused on fitness, and he found a way to exorcise his demons. All of that shaped him into the coach he is today.
His approach now is focused on helping people transform their selves, their spirit, mind, health and body into their best version. Here is what he said.
Meet Life Coach Ryan Girvan:
Name: Ryan Girvan
Pillar: The Spirit, The Mind, The Body
Who is this coach for: Anyone who wants to transform into their best selves.
How they can help: Through various tools and techniques like reframing, values determination, vision planning, breathing, learning mindfulness in training, just to name a few.
First of all, how are you and your family doing in these Pandemic times?
Honestly? I am ignorant of the pandemic right now.
It affected me back in 2020 through 2021 but in 2022 I’ve pretty much settled back into my routine.
I’m grateful I’ve managed to keep my coaching business operating and a calm mind through turbulent times.
Investing my time and energy fully into my personal and professional growth is what kept me going and growing.
How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your clients? Did it affect you at all?
It did, but not now. My clients mental and physical health was challenged.
A reduction in general physical activity, social isolation, too much spare time, excessive eating/drinking, stress, anxiety, depression, disrupted routines, financial stresses, job losses, on top of the fear from the media…
My clients were affected a lot.
But in this time of challenge also came the opportunity for my clients to practise mindful walks, being present in nature, coming together in online group programmes, connecting with new people, time to plan and think about their future, where they’re going, who they are, what they value.
It made my clients aware of their tendencies and how easy it is to fall into unhealthy habits if they don’t choose to work on it.
They realised the importance of exercise, social interaction and much more.
I believe the degree of challenge is equal to the degree of growth my clients experienced through the pandemic.
What are the biggest lessons that you learned in this pandemic?
Nobody is waking up dedicating their life to making yours better, that’s your job!
Whether or not you face your pains and expand or seek pleasure and shrink, you must live with the consequences.
By growing and empowering yourself you give others around you permission to do the same.
Investing time, energy and money into your own personal development is invaluable.
Sometimes you need to be selfish so that you can be more selfless. How can you give if you don’t have?
Whether you pursue change, growth and transformation or not doesn’t matter because transformation is continually occurring. The question is, do you want to shape your destiny or let other people shape it for you?
Learning what your values are is the most important thing you can do to transform yourself. When you know your values, no matter what happens, you can begin to see everything as on the way instead of in the way to your transformation
I could go on, honestly, but I guess these are just a few lessons I learned from the pandemic.
The Origin:
Tell us about you, your career, how you started with your coaching career?
I am a Mind, Health and Body Coach.
It’s my mission to build a successful coaching business which significantly impacts ever greater numbers of people by bridging the gap between fitness and personal development through my signature coaching programme: Becoming Your Best.
To know me I believe it helps to know my values: Self mastery, Coaching Service and Business Development.
Right now this is what is most important to me, it’s what I’m most deeply inspired to do.
I started out in August 2019 as a Personal Trainer, working 1 on 1 with clients to become healthier, happier, fitter and stronger.
6 months in, the pandemic hit.
Gym’s closed. My main source of income was halted. Luckily I got funding from the government to keep me going.
I had just graduated from college after having completed my diploma in Fitness, Health and Exercise, subjects I have been passionate about since beginning my own fitness journey in 2015.
My gran passed away in 2014 and less than a year later my mother did too at the young age of 32 from a brain aneurysm.
She had a lot going on. Chronically stressed, she carried a lot of emotional baggage which I believe was a big reason behind her drink and drug abuse which often carried over to domestic abuse.
I am the oldest of 4.
3 of my younger brothers had special needs and learning disabilities. I was often looked at to be the responsible one.
I’m telling you this because I believe my experiences growing up shaped me into the coach I am today.
I often felt worthless, out of control of myself and my emotions and I had this constant anger and aggression inside of me.
My uncles introduced me to fitness.
They gave me the opportunity to channel my emotional energy into exercise (I had a lot built up so I tapped into it and gave it my all every session).
I still remember the shivers I’d get all over my body when I would push myself in training. It was a drug like no other, you could say I became addicted. Not to the change in my body, that was a bonus, but the feeling I’d get from pushing myself through pain. I absolutely loved it.
Ever since starting in fitness I have been on a constant journey of growth and development.
It started with the physical, moved to the mental, now I’m expanding vocationally, financially and in my relationships.
Seeds were planted when I started in the gym. From then until now I’m still watering them. Except they’re not seeds anymore. They’re great oaks now, and they’ve got a lot of growth ahead of them.
So to summarise a long and bumpy journey full of ups and downs: fitness (and then personal development) was so impactful to my life that I felt called to share it with those around me.
So here I am.
What was your biggest obstacle that you had to overcome in your life that made you who you are today?
Great question.
Like everybody I’ve had many obstacles, but the one that shaped me most… that’s probably yet to come.
But right now… I would say it was removing myself from social circles that were limiting my growth and didn’t align with my vision and mission.
When I started my personal development journey at the beginning of 2020 I created a vision plan of how I’d love my life to be. I went into vivid details.
That created friction.
It was very frustrating, stressful, but most of all it was a wake up call.
Going the way I’m going, I’ll never achieve my dream life. That was a tough pill to swallow.
For months through the lockdown, when I wasn’t studying I was out drinking and taking drugs.
It felt like the last school summer holiday we would ever get. But because I had set my vision, every time I got home I felt depressed and ashamed. I would cry and isolate myself. It was a vicious cycle that went on every weekend.
But one new year I was partying and when that party ended I made a decision. The penny dropped. I was done.
In the following years I’ve been out drinking a handful of times in comparison to every weekend.
For me, the penny just dropped. Eventually. You know when it happens. It’s a deep feeling of absolute certainty. I couldn’t go back.
But the months after that was where the real pain lied. I isolated myself for 6 months. Still feeling depressed but this time I wasn’t partying.
The light at the end of the tunnel was when I met my girlfriend. She became my best friend and still to this day is the most supportive person I have in my life.
The Coaching Style:
How do you innovate with coaching your clients?
Personal training was my primary profession. Lockdown then pushed me into online fitness coaching. In that time I worked 1 on 1 with clients and also ran some group coaching programmes.
Through the pandemic, I invested most of my time focused on my personal development.
My fitness business mentor Mark Coles told me this which really stuck with me:
“The majority of your business development problems are actually personal development problems”
That inspired me to go onto learn from my mentors mentor, Dr. John Demartini, a human behaviour specialist.
To say that the knowledge and wisdom I gained from Dr. Demartini was life changing would be an understatement.
I became obsessed with learning from Dr Demartini, it was similar to the feeling I had when I first started fitness all over again.
I would get goosebumps, tears of gratitude and an overwhelming feeling of love and wisdom learning from Demartini, especially on his signature programme: the Breakthrough Experience (if you get the opportunity, do it!).
So how do I innovate with coaching my clients?
I take what I’ve been inspired to learn from Mark Coles and Dr Demartini (as well as many others, although these two have been the most influential to me) and I created a new approach to personal transformation.
The first step in my “Becoming your Best” coaching programme is empowering your mind.
Here I simplify solutions to solving problems my clients commonly have such as low self confidence, overwhelm, frustration.
The second step is optimising your health.
This part is about creating effective habits and routines to manage stress, improve sleep and nutrition, as well as considering the influence of environment and social factors influencing my clients outcomes.
The third step is transforming your body.
Once all the previous steps are completed, my clients are in a powerful position to make a lasting change to their body. Often first developing muscle mass, then once they’re ready, reducing body fat.
My coaching is unique to my experience.
I have created frameworks which guarantee my clients results if followed.
As I evolve, so does my programme.
I am deeply inspired to acquire new specialised knowledge and package it into meaningful, impactful service to my clients.
But then most importantly, coaching them individually to integrate the new information and overcome limitations and struggles along the way.
What’s unique about your coaching approach?
I focus on the mental transformation as much as the physical transformation.
I prioritise mental and physical health before appearance.
I care about making a significant impact in my clients that lasts and transforms their life, not just a quick fix for a before and after photo.
My service is an extension of me, the knowledge and wisdom I’ve gained that has been impactful in my life and is evolving with me.
I help my clients expand their mind. To love themself and to live in alignment with what’s most important to them as individuals.
What benefits do your clients get after working with you?
Increased self confidence, transformed body shape, understanding of how to train properly, how to balance their mind, manage emotions and stress.
Overcoming self limiting beliefs, frustrations, anxiety, depression.
Creating self belief that they can achieve their dreams.
Do you use any specific tools to be efficient with your clients?
Values determination, vision planning, reverse engineering, chunking, prioritising.
Breathing, balancing perceptions, reframing challenges.
Mind Muscle connection, or mindfulness in training.
The Impact:
If you had a super megaphone that, when you speak into, the whole world will hear your message, what would you say?
Transform your stressings into blessings, your challenges into opportunities, and love everything that happens with this one quality question:
How is whatever is happening right now serving what’s most meaningful to me?
Stack your answers and pay attention to how you feel.
What is the greatest lesson you have learned in your life?
I was often judged and criticised for being selfish growing up by my mum, step dad and ex partner.
I felt ashamed, as if I was doing something wrong.
But being selfish is necessary to become selfless.
If you want to give more to others, give yourself more first.
If you want to love more, love yourself more first.
If you want to make a difference in others, make a difference in yourself first.
You can’t pour from an empty cup.
So don’t forget to fill yours first.
Your final thoughts?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here.
I’m grateful to share with you a snippet of my journey.
If you enjoyed this, I’d love to connect with you on Instagram.
I wish you all the best on your journey of becoming your best!
Where Can You Find Ryan Girvan?
If you liked this interview and you would love to become your best self, go to https://www.becomingyourbest.co.uk/discover and find out how Ryan can help you do that.
If you like to see a glimpse of his coaching, follow his Instagram account. If you have a burning question, send him a direct message via [email protected]. It was an honor having this interview with him.