The Vira Human Training Method
The Vira Human Training Method · Origins, Practice and ICF Standards
The Vira Human Training Method is the educational framework used across Vira Human Training. It brings together the historical foundations of modern Coaching, structured practice, mentoring, supervision and ICF-accredited Coach Education, shaping how Coaches train and develop inside the International Coaching School.
How the Method works
The Vira Human Training Method is the educational framework used across Vira’s Coach Education pathways. It connects professional standards, experiential learning, observed practice, mentoring and supervision, so ICF competencies are developed as part of a coherent professional practice rather than as an isolated checklist.
The Method sits inside the wider identity of Vira Human Training as an international Coach Education and professional training organization. For the founder’s professional vision and the reasoning behind this educational model, see Michael Gabaldi’s Founder’s Story.
Where the Method comes from
The Method draws on foundational work that helped shape modern Coaching, including the contributions of Timothy Gallwey and Sir John Whitmore. Michael Gabaldi, Founder & Director of Coaching Education at Vira Human Training, deepened his understanding of the Inner Game® approach directly with Timothy Gallwey. Vira’s ongoing collaboration with Prometeo Coaching also connects the Method to a longer professional Coaching lineage developed through Angelo Bonacci and his training network.
That lineage matters because it is translated into present-day educational practice: how trainers observe sessions, mentor Coaches, structure feedback and support professional development inside the International Coaching School. The collaboration is documented in the Prometeo Coaching and Vira Human Training partnership.
Coaching Depth and Professional Standards
The Vira Human Training Method preserves two complementary dimensions of modern Coaching: work on the internal conditions that shape performance and disciplined attention to goals, action and outcomes. At Vira, these dimensions are developed within the competencies and ethical framework of ICF-accredited Coach Education.
Coaches build a theoretical foundation, move into observed practice and receive structured feedback from trainers. The Method therefore connects Coaching lineage with a current professional framework rather than treating either as a separate layer. Vira’s accreditations, institutional approvals, professional recognitions and partnerships are documented in Recognitions and International Standards.
What this looks like in practice
Inside the International Coaching School, the Method becomes practical from the first weeks of training. Coaches work through observed sessions, peer practice, individual and group mentoring, structured feedback and practical tools designed for professional use. Feedback is part of the learning process rather than something reserved for the end of a level.
The Level 1 Coach Education Program supports the ACC credential pathway, while the Level 2 Coach Education Program supports the PCC credential pathway. Completion of a Vira program does not itself grant an ICF credential, which remains subject to ICF’s own credentialing requirements.
Method, Technique, and Approach: what is the difference
A technique is a tool used inside a session, while an approach is a general orientation toward people and outcomes.
A method is broader than both.
It is the coherent framework behind them, deciding which techniques apply, in what sequence, and how progress gets evaluated.
The Vira Human Training Method operates at this level.
It connects daily teaching decisions to a professional standard, not to individual preference.
This shows up in mentoring and supervision, where trainers review a session against the coherence of the whole framework, not technique by technique. This distinction helps Vira maintain consistency across trainers, programs and professional contexts.
Technique
A single tool applied inside a session
Approach
A general orientation toward people and outcomes
Method
The coherent framework that decides which techniques apply, in what sequence, and against which standard
Who this Method serves
The Method applies across different contexts and is designed for more than one kind of professional. Professionals training to become Coaches build their practice on it from Level 1, moving toward ICF credential eligibility. Certified Coaches use it to align an already-developed practice with ICF standards. Beyond formal Coach Education, the same framework serves managers and leaders who want to bring Coaching competencies into the way they work and communicate. It also serves HR professionals and people managers looking to develop more conscious, responsible approaches to team development. Some come with no intention of becoming a Coach at all: they apply the same principles to improve the quality of their professional relationships, their decision-making, and their daily work.
In all cases, the Method is applied through the same educational principles, trainer observation and professional standards, even when learning goals or professional contexts differ.