The Visionary

"We have all been given this life to live free and abundant
without the need to take freedom and abundance  from anyone"
Mark Rayner

Mark Rayner PCC

The Founder of the Rayner Institute is described by those that know him as;
​"Genuine", "Authentic" & "Dynamic".​

The Philosophy of professional coaching at the Rayner Institute. As created and implemented by Mark Rayner

I want to share my Philosophy on the discipline and science of professional coaching. 
First, I would like to share the results of the research I found as it relates to the word Philosophy and the meaning as it was intended. The word Philosophy comes from the Greek ‘philo’, meaning, Love and ‘Sophia’, meaning wisdom. Therefore, going forward, as you read about the philosophies taught at the Rayner Institute, consider keeping in the back of your mind that Philosophy means “Love of Wisdom.” 

The purpose for sharing my Philosophies is to have you see if you align with my views and observed truths. These philosophies we teach at the Rayner Institute have been taught worldwide in more than 85 countries and different languages for the past decade. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to authentically share my Philosophy as it relates to my observed view of the world and how this view is translated and taught to support the further development and mastery of professional coaching. 

As I explore my internal motivating factor for the work I do and the deep desire for knowing more about the human condition has been a deep-rooted need for more in life that most people have and why obtaining that desire is so elusive for so many. I always felt that there had to be more in life than merely chasing empty, meaningless goals that seemed so vitally important. Then when my goal or desire was achieved, I felt empty. I realized that I was trying to quench a thirst for more in life from material items. What I discovered I needed was was to find my path in life and connect to who I was by finding what was important to me. I have found that purpose, creating great fulfillment for myself and others. Now let me share with you my Philosophies that are integrated into the material taught at the Rayner Institute.


What is Philosophy? 
For me, it is a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and society. It works by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe, and the connections between them. The ideas in philosophy are often general and abstract. I started to explore my personal Philosophy regarding professional coaching by uncovering answers to some very fundamental questions. 


I was asked the following questions regarding the philosophy of teaching at here at the Institute. 


Question - What is your view of the world?
Answer    - My view of the world often changes; however, there are some truths for me that I see everywhere and have not changed over time. They are:


A- Coaching is a creating conversation, not a fixing conversation. 
    1. Nature is in constant change. I view change as the creation, and since we are part of nature and continuously changing, we are continually creating. Most people are creating what they do not want because of their beliefs. Through greater awareness, people start to create what they want as they live life more on purpose. 

B- The known feels safer than the unknown. 
    1. The past is more certain and knowing than the future. The past has already happened, and the future is unknown. With this truth that would make the past safer than the future and that is why most people are navigating their life looking back at either their past pain or past success and not looking forward to the unknown future where creation is possible.

C- Gravity has a force I cannot see, the results to gravity I can see.
    1. The physics of gravity seems reasonably consistent. It is a force that can be measured and is reliable, even predictable. The reality that there is gravity and a force acting on the mass, keeping the mass on the planet, makes sense to me. In summary, I cannot see the gravitational force, but I can see the results of that force. This leads to one of our philosophies at the Rayner Institute regarding “Acceptance." I have learned through my personal life that when we resist what is, we suffer and when we can accept what is, we feel a sense of peace and more able to create something from a desire and not from fear. Here again; I cannot see the forces that are created by accepting what is; I can, however, see the results when a person is able to accept what is, resulting in feeling of peace enabling creating on purpose. 

D- Most people are looking for the feeling of being Safe, Okay, and Enough, not money, fame, or happiness. Therefore most people alive today do not feel completely safe, okay, or enough, and deeply desire the freedom this feeling makes available.
    1. Over the years, the clients I have coached told me they wanted most was to be happy, or more money, or get into better physical shape. As the coaching would continue, they realized they wanted the feeling these things would bring them. Most people alive today do not feel completely safe, okay, or enough and maybe not at all. We have created this condition of suffering for each other by measuring, evaluating, comparing, judging, and even insulting one another. Most people have come through life getting told or shown they are not enough, safe or okay and must do something about it or face rejection. I believe that a fully Self-Actualized individual is someone that feels safe, okay, and enough in any one moment. The Rayner coaching model goes into great detail regarding Self-Actualized person and how to coach another individual to this reality. 

E- Professional coaching is all the same. If it is Life Coaching, Executive Coaching, Career Coaching, transition coaching, transaction coaching.
    1. All coaching has many things in common, such as: In every type of coaching, there are the following:
      1. Coach
      2. Client
      3. The client wants something.
      4. The coach will listen, ask questions, and the client will gain greater awareness with added clarity.
      5. Some schools sell their student's different types of coaching modalities. Once a person learns the fundamentals, he/she will realize that it is not necessary to have a class on the different type of coaching. Some schools sell the different types of coaching as a marketing tool to charge additional fees for something the student does not need. Coaching is coaching; it is all the same. The only thing different is the setting and the individual being coached.
 
F- If you want to get good at being a professional coach, you need to  
         coach. 
    1. Like anything, if you want to get good at playing the piano, you need to play the piano; etc. 


Question - What is your definition of Self-Actualization?
Answer     - Self-Actualization is when a person feels Safe, Okay, and Enough in life. 
When a person does not feel safe or okay or enough, it makes feeling grateful or able to see the beauty in life near impossible. This is because of the struggles internally. 

Question - What doe you mean "Education for Life" –
Answer    - This is our tag line. I wish I could somehow convey what this statement means in a few words, however, we teach the students to get their hands on the controls of their life. A place they can become more themselves maybe for the first time in a long time. It is a life changing experience for all students.

Question  -  Why do you ask your students to "Give yourself permission to be a student"?–
Answer       - All great masters of any discipline step into mastery once they realize they are students of that discipline regardless of how much time they have spent on that discipline. We want the students to be open to receive the material and not come into the class with a knowing that may not be serving them. True mastery is a person that becomes a true master of their discipline when they realize they are students of that discipline. 

Question - There are many lessons taught at the school and one of them is: "If I was okay, would THIS be a problem?" What do you mean by this?
Answer     - It is not what we see as the problem that is actually a problem. It is the fact that a person is not okay that makes a situation a problem.  

The Rayner Institute teaches a holistic approach to executive coaching using these and other fundamental truths as the students explore the competencies of what a professional coach needs to know how to navigate the conversation. In class, we provide a safe environment for the students to explore the fundamentals of professional coaching and also get the opportunity to practice what they learn. 

These are my truths from my lived experience and now being taught around the world. 

Wish you the very best! 

Mark​