About Ryan Burkholder

Ryan’s work sits at the intersection of high performance and genuine health.

A former professional hockey player, he understands the physical and psychological demands of performing under pressure — and what it takes to keep showing up while carrying stress beneath the surface.

At twenty, while on a hockey scholarship, Ryan was involved in a traumatic car accident that took the life of one of his closest friends. Outwardly, he was expected to meet the demands of a student-athlete. Internally, he was navigating grief while learning, firsthand, what real resilience requires.

What began as a personal search for healing revealed something unexpected: the principles that stabilized him internally also elevated his performance.

He discovered that when the body is organized and the nervous system regulated, performance improves — not only in output, but in quality. Strength feels cleaner. Effort feels more efficient. Capacity expands.

After retiring from professional hockey, Ryan began strength coaching in 2013 and later completed his training in Osteopathy, graduating in 2018. His clinical education refined what sport had already begun to teach him: strength without regulation creates strain. High performance, like the human body, works best when it’s relaxed.

Today, Ryan works virtually with capable, high-functioning adults — professionals, leaders, and driven individuals — who perform well in life but quietly feel the cost in their bodies. They are strong and competent, yet internally overextended.

Through osteopathically informed strength coaching, he helps them build resilient capacity that feels better from the inside. His framework, Relaxed Performance, develops strength that is organized, efficient, and sustainable — allowing clients to maintain high standards without paying for it in tension, fatigue, or burnout.

Ryan lives and works from his homestead in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada.