24 Hours With… Ryan Willms

Creative director, podcast host, holistic life coach, formerly magazine founder and now Reigning Champ’s latest collaborator… is there anything Ryan Willms can’t do? In celebration of Willms’ brand new Reigning Champ capsule collection, we decided to go behind the scenes and pick up some lifestyle tips from the expert himself...

“Got to meditate, even for a few minutes a day. Lately its been twice a day for about 15-20 minutes per sitting.”

“I really love coffee in the morning, and I’ve been drinking Bulletproof with cocoa butter for a while now.”

Morning

What time do you wake up and where?
Whenever possible I don’t use an alarm, and have been waking at home in Los Angeles around 8am.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning?
Drink a big glass of water.

Where are you usually based?
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for three years now, and initially I didn’t want to travel much after living in New York and travelling a lot.

What does your average day look like?
Generally I’ll take my dog Cookie for a walk, meditate and then sit down to work with a coffee. I like to catch up on sports gossip in the morning as well. I’ll work for a few hours, then try to move my body. Either yoga, a run or a bike ride these days are a great way to break up the day; then have some lunch and get back to work for a few hours. I could be doing a photoshoot, podcast, building a concept deck or having meetings on Zoom. Natalie my fiancee and I usually make dinner, and for the last few weeks we’ve been crushing Love Island!

Do you have any rituals?
My daily rituals are meditation, and I’d include making coffee as well. I’m trying to make my yoga practice more regular as well. Weekly, Natalie and I are trying to do more breathwork together, which feels amazing and is actually really easy. I’m always amazed how much clarity, healing and openness is only a few minutes of intentionally breathing away.

Where is your studio located and how do you get there?
I’ve been working from home for the last 5-6 years. The commute is easy in that sense, but the world can feel small without having to leave and it’s been a challenge to draw that line between being at home and being at work.

“Walking Cookie. We adopted this 2-year old pit-bull in February and fell in love pretty fast, even though she’s a bit crazy!”

“My living room with morning light - one of the nicer corners of our Schindler apartment.”

Daytime

How would you describe what you do?
I’m a creative director and holistic life coach. The creative director title is something I used to shy away from, but it’s really the only ‘job title’ that makes sense for the range of work that I do. At the intersection of those would be Into the Well and my podcast, which I really enjoy doing as well.

How has your background influenced who you are today?
From every relationship to my parents to every job – it’s undeniable I’ve been informed massively by all of these experiences and while they’ve influenced my journey greatly, who I am at my core has really been there since childhood. So much of the last couple of years has been unlearning, shedding and understanding more deeply who I am, what I’m meant to do and moving towards that.

How did you get your start in fashion?
I started by blogging back in 2005. I thought I would be a copywriter and so I started a small blog that grew into an online magazine, and then became Inventory magazine in 2009.

What led you to become a life coach and what were you doing before?
From 2009 to 2016 I was running Inventory magazine. That was my ultimate schooling in the industry and it evolved into more consulting and creative direction. In 2017 I essentially quit and took some time off after really burning out. This led me into a deep inner journey of healing and learning, taking me into life coaching. I was doing it for myself, and felt like I could help others that had fallen down a similar path.

“Loading up and heading to the track for a short run.”

What are the most important factors in your work?
I suppose I see myself as a good editor; I can see interesting intersections in disparate areas and connect them in interesting ways.

How do you get into a creative headspace?
I feel like I live in it constantly. My aim is for my life to be truly integrated and not separate work from exercise from meditating from making dinner with Nat. It’s all connected, and creativity can flow at any time. Creating the space to see or hear it is key, however.

How did the collaboration with Reigning Champ come about?
I’ve know Craig Atkinson for years and I reached out to him about 18 months ago about doing some work with the brand. The conversation evolved quite quickly into the potential of a collaboration, and he asked me what kind of product I’d like to create.

Do you have a favorite piece from your collection?
I probably like the shorts the best. Reigning Champ hadn’t really made a short like this before but it combines their Dot Air fabric shell and then the specially dyed compression fabric underneath. The logos are nice both on the outer and inner layers and I feel like they’ll get a lot of use!

“For Christmas last year I got my fiancée Natalie and I deerskin drums. We use them before doing breathwork together at home.”

“Back home to see Cookie and rest up.”

Evening

What’s on your bookshelf right now?
I just finished reading King, Warrior, Magician, Lover which was really good and now I’m about to start Compassion and Self-Hate! I was thinking I might do something lighter, but it came as a recommendation.

What do you usually do for dinner?
That’s been evolving a bit lately, I’m in the middle of a bit of an energetic cleanse and reset so I’ve been eating vegetarian for two weeks now.

What time do you go to bed?
I aim for 10.30pm. We do a lot of our physical recovery from 10pm-2am and then mental recovery from 2am, so I try to make the most of those cycles and really cherish good sleep.

Last thing you do before you sleep?
I’ll usually do a guided meditation before bed which I really enjoy, then give Natalie a kiss, pull down the eye mask and hopefully not lay there awake for too long.

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