Rachel Marie Paling is an International Game Changer in Education, in particular, the education of languages. She has created the method and approach Neurolanguage Coaching, which incorporates professional coaching and principles of neuroscience into the learning process. She coaches and trains teachers worldwide, transforming them into certified and ICF accredited Neurolanguage coaches and has created the Neurolanguage Coach network with over 800 NL Coaches in just over 70 countries worldwide and is now bringing the approach to schools and institutions over the world through her licensed trainers and in nine languages.
Who is Rachel?
You know that’s quite an interesting question. At this point in my life, I am tempted to answer that I am the sum total of all the parts that I have been through my life, but that now they are fully integrated into the real, genuine me. Over the last 10 years, I have been working so much on developing my training programs which encompass coaching and neuroscience and this has really given me a lot of insights about myself, my life, my experiences and also how my brain, if I can say it like this, really operates.
So, at this point in my life as a mature woman, I would say that I am a very calm, peaceful, in love with life, passioned by my work, happy person. Over the last six years, I have really learned to live every day to the full, to have more focus and attention on the things that really matter in life and to be equanimous and positive. My life experiences gave me the gift of traveling as well as living in various countries, which facilitated the learning of many languages, but also the opportunity to experience other cultures, other ways of thinking and other ways of being. I wouldn’t change a single thing from my life. In fact, I would even go back and relive every single moment, because now finally I can fully understand that everything that I have done has contributed to what I am doing now. Without that pathway, I wouldn’t be here today.
I was born in England but I left at a very young age and consider myself to be a European, having lived in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland. Last year I came full circle back to live in Spain. I’m absolutely loving living next to the Mediterranean again, in the countryside, next to one of the best wine regions of Spain called Priorat. I adore the hot weather. I love traveling. Freedom is extremely important for me, but I must confess that over the last year I quite enjoyed staying at home in the countryside, being able to get into my car at any time and go to my paddle board at the beach then going out on the sea for moments of absolute bliss and tranquility. Paddleboarding has become part of my life as well as meditation.
What is it that you do?
Well, I have created a new method and approach to learning languages called Neurolanguage coaching, which combines principles plus the structure and standards from professional coaching together with the principles of neuroscience, namely how the brain likes to learn and how the brain reacts when learning. I crystallized the method in 2012, creating a training program for language teachers that carries the accreditation of the International Coaching Federation in the US. It is one of the only language teacher training courses worldwide to carry such an accreditation. Over these past eight years, just over 800 language trainers have become Neurolanguage coaches.
They form a network across the globe in over 70 countries with all different language combinations. In the last two years, I have also trained 24 of my professional neurolanguage coaches to become teacher trainers of my course. They are now delivering the course in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Ukrainian, Slovakian, Polish, Arabic, and Portuguese. The whole approach is quite transformational for both the coach and the learner. In addition, we offer another course, also accredited by the ICF, called Neurolanguage Communication, which is for teachers of any discipline. The essence of everything that we are doing is to really change the way that teachers teach and help them to deliver learning in a much more brain-friendly, curiosity arousing, enjoyable way.
Through the years that I was developing this concept, it really was extremely tough at times. There were many ups and downs. I did everything by myself without any financial backing and as a pioneer of something totally new I often encountered resistance and negativity, but there was one thing that really kept me going and that was the vision that through this work I would one day create an educational foundation that would really make a difference. That one day dawned last December 2020 when my business partner Gary Houlton and I signed the constitutional document of the Neuroheart Education Foundation. As you can imagine, it was an extremely emotional day for me. We will be officially launching on February 14th this year 2021, the day my grandfather celebrated his birthday and the most heartfelt day of the year for all of us, all over the world.
What will the Foundation focus on?
My vision is that there will be two major focus points: the first will be to train teachers not only into the neurolanguage approach but also into other innovative topics such as meditation, yoga, nature, neuroscience, heart science, entrepreneurship. By training teachers into such topics they can then bring these into their schools and educational systems.
The second focus will be the creation of a homeschooling program for children, whose parents cannot afford the schooling system. Moreover, a remote schooling program for villages or areas that need creative and innovative ideas to bring education to groups of children there. The foundation will be seeking to raise funds so that the trainers, teachers and coaches who are delivering the training courses will in fact be paid, whereas the teachers or the children receiving the training will receive it for free. I do think it will be a unique concept for the world. Furthermore, I believe it will be a way of shifting education and teaching into a more holistic 21st-century approach.
What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
At the moment, my big goal is to see the foundation flourishing, and delivering its programs and training globally. At this point in my life, I am extremely happy with the basics and with simple countryside living. Nevertheless, it is really important for me to live as a social entrepreneur, maybe even as a model for others to follow so that they too can create other social institutions that could help move humanity forwards into a different way of working and living.
When I see myself in ten years, I can imagine that I will be working just as much and loving it just as much. I can imagine that I will be traveling, discovering new places, new cultures and, of course, learning new languages, as well as constantly innovating and creating. In other words, I want to live and experience the concept of neuroplasticity daily as a citizen of the world, paddleboarding whenever I get the chance in places I had never dreamed of, appreciating the beauty of our planet, and absolutely living life to the full.
The NeuroHeart education foundation will be launched on the 14.02.2021. Our websites will soon unveil the way forward of the foundation. www.neurohearteducationfoundation.com
