Heart Leadership
Heart Leadership Coaching Certification · First English Cohort

Rational coaching
no longer works.

Learn to lead sessions that go two layers deeper, so your coachees experience breakthroughs they found nowhere else.

Scientifically grounded. Become a Certified Heart Leadership Coach™.

★★★★★9.4/10 participant rating
First English Cohort · Early 2027
Application only
Apply for the First English Cohort Practical details

Application only · Limited spots · First English Cohort starts early 2027

Join the waitlist and be first in line for the First English Cohort, and secure your spot as a Founding Early Bird member when enrolment opens in 2027.

Tess Keijzer
Do you recognise this?

You work with smart people.
And yet the change doesn't land.

They arrive well prepared. They think a lot, analyse sharply, articulate clearly. The conversation is good. You ask strong questions. They reach insights.

And yet, after the session, you notice the real change isn't happening. Insights without movement. Conversations without breakthrough. Change that doesn't truly land.

The problem is not your technique. The problem is not your questions.

Rational coaching no longer works. Your client has lived in their head for years. On that level, very little changes. Because real, lasting transformation happens on a deeper layer than reason, cognition and analysis. In this era, that becomes more relevant and more urgent than ever.

There are two layers in every conversation. The first layer: what is said. The analysis, the words, the answers that make sense. Your clients are already there. They have lived there for years.

The second layer: what lies beneath. What the body already knows before the head can put it into words. What the heart feels before the mind dares to admit it.

Coaching two layers deeper means: you don't stay in the first layer. You guide your client into the second.

Real breakthroughs with smart, rational, powerful people don't happen when they think harder. They happen when, for the first time, they experience and feel something they cannot rationalise. That is the layer I teach you to reach. For yourself, and for the people you work with.

I want to learn to reach that second layer

"I built this certification because it did not exist yet, and I believe this is the future of coaching. In a world where reason and cognition are increasingly taken over, it is time to develop our intelligence on another, deeper level."

Tess Keijzer · Founder of Heart Leadership™

No other certification in the world combines this. That is why it exists.

The science behind Heart Leadership™

This is not a feeling.
This is measurable.

Your heart communicates with your brain before your brain has words for it. The HeartMath Institute shows that the electromagnetic field of your heart is more than a hundred times stronger than that of your brain, and that the heart directs the brain, not the other way around.

And then there is heart coherence. When your heart is in coherence, when heart, brain and body are aligned, it is not just a pleasant feeling. It is the physiological state in which you are most resilient. In which you think more clearly, are more creative, solve problems faster and consistently perform at your highest level.

As a coach, you learn to guide your clients into that state deliberately. Not with more questions. But with presence, heart intelligence and the 12 Heart Leadership Coaching Skills I give you in this certification.

100×
Stronger
The electromagnetic field of the heart is more than 100 times stronger than that of the brain, measurable beyond the body.
60%
Heart → Brain
60% of the information flow runs from heart to brain, not the other way around. The heart leads, the brain follows.
40,000
Neural cells
The heart contains 40,000 neural cells, enough to form a brain of its own. The heart thinks, feels and decides. Independently of your head.
9.4/10
Participant rating
The average rating for this certification. Exceptional quality: not just theory, but tools, skills and insights you integrate into your work immediately.

Heart Leadership Coaching combines this science with what can only be experienced: presence, intuition, embodiment. As one way of coaching. In a time when AI takes over more and more rational tasks, what remains irreplaceable is this: coaching from the heart.

The impact on your clients

What your clients experience
when you coach two layers deeper.

◉
Deeper conversations that truly shift
Your client experiences sessions that don't just create insight, but shift something lasting on a deeper level. They don't say "good conversation." They say "something changed."
◈
Reaching the core faster
Your client no longer needs endless analysis. They spend less time in stories and arrive sooner at what is really going on: the layer beneath the words.
◇
Powerful choices from the heart
Your client stops choosing from obligation or fear, and starts choosing from inner authority. Choices that feel right. That hold. That lead from trust instead of control.
✦
More safety and more depth
Your client feels safe enough to be truly vulnerable, and at the same time experiences the depth needed to really shift. Embodied change, not just understood change.
What coaches who went before you say

From good conversations
to real breakthroughs.

"This certification brought me even closer to myself and made my coaching stronger. My clients experience the sessions as deeper and more intense."

Ingrid
Leadership Coach

"For me, this was the missing link towards a deeper, more powerful way of coaching. A certification that doesn't just enrich you as a coach, it touches your whole life."

Nelleke
High Performance Coach

"In one word: magical. It doesn't feel like a tool or a trick. It feels real, authentic. It is deep, gentle, impactful and transformational."

Nicole
Interim HR Manager and Coach

"Many programmes stay stuck in theory, but this one made sure I could apply everything immediately. These skills are truly priceless."

Nathalie
Physician and Coach

"Conversations go deeper and become more valuable. Especially for those who work from the head and from analysis, this is extremely valuable, even in a technical work environment."

Meral
Manager and Coach, tech sector

"People now call me a gentle force, where before I was a goal-getter. How beautiful to be able to pass this on to others."

Dorien
Director and Business Mentor
After 10 weeks

What concretely changes
in your coaching.

What you are joining

This is not a certification.
This is a movement.

When you complete this programme, you don't just receive a certificate. You become a Certified Heart Leadership Coach™. A title that stands for a way of working the world needs now, and that is expanding internationally in the years ahead.

And this cohort is historic. The coaches who join the First English Cohort become the first Certified Heart Leadership Coaches™ outside the Netherlands: the founding members of the international movement. In a world where AI takes over the rational, the coach who works two layers deeper becomes indispensable. You will stand at the front of the changing coaching landscape, within a growing international community. With a shared language. A shared standard. And a mission that reaches beyond your own practice: bringing more heart into the world.

Your certification is the beginning. The movement is what you join.

Become a founding member
What you learn and receive

Not another model.
Reaching the second layer.

◎
Theory
The core principles of Heart Leadership™ applied to coaching: scientifically grounded and immediately applicable
◈
12 Skills
The 12 Heart Leadership Coaching Skills for sessions that go two layers deeper and facilitate lasting, embodied transformation
◇
Tools
Powerful tools that take your client two layers deeper in 10 minutes:
  • Coherence Compass
  • Tune into the Heart
  • Transform the Saboteur
  • Bridge of Trust
◉
Practice
Live Q&A and practice classes with direct feedback from Tess, including personal feedback on a 10-minute coaching session
◌
Community
A private channel with your cohort for inspiration, cases, questions, wins and celebrations: Heart Leadership Coaches among each other
✦
Certificate
The official Heart Leadership Coach™ Foundation certificate. You become part of a select network setting a new standard
Is this for you?

Your clients are too smart for surface-level coaching.
So are you.

This certification is for you if...

  • ✓You have experience as a coach, mentor or facilitator
  • ✓You work with smart clients who regularly stay stuck in their heads
  • ✓You know and feel your sessions can go deeper, but you lack the skills to get there consistently
  • ✓You want to be gentler without becoming soft, and coach even more powerfully because of it
  • ✓You are willing to practise, experience and grow yourself
  • ✓You want to distinguish yourself with a scientifically grounded method

This certification is not for you if...

  • ✕You are looking for quick tips, tricks or yet another new model
  • ✕You are not willing to feel, experience and be truly vulnerable yourself
  • ✕You only want a certificate, without the depth and transformation that come with it
  • ✕You have no experience as a coach at all: this programme is for further development
How participants experience Tess as facilitator and coach

Present. Sharp.
And a master who embodies what she teaches.

She doesn't just coach from knowledge. She coaches from who she is. That is what participants reflect back, time and again.

"The immense calm you bring, even through the screen, combined with the demos and your own openness and vulnerability. You fully breathe Heart Leadership."

"Tess is razor-sharp. Remarkable how she senses things and responds to non-verbal shifts with such precision. Her sharpness, delivered in a kind and constructive way."

"She always knows how to formulate the right response and ask exactly the right follow-up question. Beautifully critical, yet loving."

"Your ability to see and feel with complete clarity what truly matters, combined with your Heart Leadership coaching skills, was simply impressive. I have honestly never experienced anything like it. A fantastic coach."

"You weren't a leader to look up to, but a leader who inspires and creates a safe space in which everyone comes into their own."

"Your presence, humour, vulnerability and sparkling energy make you an exceptional trainer and educator. Your warmth, wisdom and craftsmanship create an environment for both depth and lightness, and you invite people to grow, without judgement."

Who is Tess? Read her story →
Tess Keijzer
About Tess Keijzer

Expert. Master coach.
And fully driven by mission.

Tess Keijzer is the founder of Heart Leadership™ and a globally recognised expert in heart intelligence and transformational leadership. Her mission is clear and unwavering: bring more heart into this world. From that mission, she trains coaches around the world to coach from the heart, and guides visionary leaders, CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from head to heart in exclusive 1:1 mentorship.

She grew up between continents. As a young girl, she lived with her family in West Africa for several years. After her Masters in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam, she spent her twenties in New York City and Sydney. Later, she built her practice from Amsterdam and Mallorca, an island that lives in her heart. She now lives with her partner and daughter in Dubai, where she is building an international institute for coaches.

Tess holds an MSc in Social Psychology (University of Amsterdam) and has more than 25 years of background in psychology. She is an internationally certified Co-Active Coach (CPCC), Certified Heart Intelligence Trainer (HeartMath Institute, California), certified hypnotherapist, RTT Practitioner and ORSC Practitioner. She has trained extensively with Dr Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden.

Over the past 15 years, she has guided thousands of leaders as a trainer, coach and facilitator in renowned organisations across finance, technology, healthcare and government. Since 2018, she has immersed herself in the neuroscience of heart intelligence, from which the Heart Leadership Model was born.

In 2024, her book "Moedig Leiden vanuit je Hart" was published and named a must-read by Dutch Vogue. The Heart Leadership Coaching Certification launched in early 2025. The first English cohort begins early 2027.

"You can only facilitate what you embody yourself. That is my core philosophy. And it is the reason I do this work the way I do it."

Tess Keijzer

25+
years psychology
15+
years coaching
1000+
leaders guided
9.4/10
certification rating
Practical information

First English Cohort:
starts early 2027

Duration
10 weeks
Live sessions
6 sessions, every two weeks, 2.5 hours, fully online
Format
Audio lessons, live Q&A and practice classes
Access
1 year access to all audio lessons. The PDFs with coaching skills and tools are yours forever.
Cohort
Limited spots · Application only
Certificate
Heart Leadership Coach™ Foundation
Founding Early Bird
A reward for those who already know this is their next step
$ 2,999
Regular
$ 3,499
Late Bird
$ 3,999

The Early Bird is not pressure to decide quickly. It is a reward for those who already know this is their next step. Payment plans are available: mention it after your application.

Reserve your founding spot

Ready to set a new standard
in coaching?

Fill in the application to express your interest. It takes two minutes. You commit to nothing. You will hear from us personally.

I'm applying for the First English Cohort

Applications are reviewed in order of arrival.

"Heart Leadership Coaching is so much more than a method or a model. It is a frequency. A way of being that brings people home to themselves."
Tess Keijzer · Founder of Heart Leadership™
Questions

What is alive in you
before you take the step?

I don't work with classic coaching tools. Does this fit me?+

Especially if you feel that classic tools have a ceiling, this is your next step. Heart Leadership Coaching does not replace your existing way of working: it takes you to the layer your tools could not yet reach. You are encouraged to integrate the Heart Leadership Coaching Skills and Tools into your own unique coaching style, and to develop your authenticity as a coach even further.

I'm not spiritually inclined. Is this still for me?+

Heart Leadership Coaching is scientifically grounded in heart intelligence, heart-brain coherence, neuroscience and embodiment. It asks for openness and a willingness to experience what you may now only approach through cognition and reason, and to deepen your work through it. For yourself and for your clients. It brings more meaning, fulfilment and satisfaction. In this era of change and AI, that matters more than ever.

How much time does this take?+

Count on a few hours per week for the audio lessons, plus the live sessions of 2.5 hours every two weeks. The programme is built for coaches who already work with clients and can integrate the insights, tools and skills into their sessions immediately. This programme is not made for people with all the time in the world.

What if my application is not accepted?+

If you have experience as a coach, mentor or facilitator, that rarely happens. But if the timing or the match isn't right at this moment, you will hear personally and honestly why. You will then know exactly what a fitting next step would be.

Is this the right moment for me?+

If you are asking this question, the answer is almost always yes. The perfect moment doesn't exist. What does exist is the moment you feel that continuing the way you work now costs you more than taking the step. If you recognise that pull, the longing for more depth, for sessions that truly shift, for a way of coaching that is fully yours, then this is the moment. The application is the first step. Non-binding. Honest. Without obligation.

I'm already enrolled in another coaching programme. Does this fit alongside it?+

Yes. Heart Leadership Coaching is not a replacement for what you already have: it is the layer beneath it. Many participants combine this certification with their existing programme, or step in right after another certification. The skills and tools connect to every coaching approach and deepen what you have already built.

I coach part-time, alongside another role. Is this for me too?+

Yes, provided you already have experience as a coach, mentor or facilitator. This certification builds on what you already know and can do. The insights and skills you gain integrate directly into your coaching practice. What matters is not how many hours you coach right now, but how seriously you take this work, and that you dare to invest in your next level as a coach.

What does this concretely bring my coaching business?+

Coaches who completed this certification report three concrete shifts. They go deeper in their sessions: clients name breakthroughs that didn't happen before. They charge higher rates with more confidence, because their offer has become deeper and more distinctive. And they experience more fulfilment in their work, because they coach from their own heart instead of from a method. The 9.4/10 participant rating may say it most clearly.

Is there a next step after the Foundation?+

Yes. For coaches who want to go deeper after the Foundation, there is the Advanced programme: an intensive continuation in which you bring the Heart Leadership work to mastery. It is exclusively accessible to certified Foundation alumni. Your certification is not the end point: it is the beginning of a growth path.

I'm reading this and I actually want to be coached this way myself, not take the certification.+

Then you have landed on the wrong page, at exactly the right moment. If you want to experience personally what Heart Leadership does in practice, The Inner Authority™ is the exclusive 1:1 mentorship with Tess for visionary leaders, founders and entrepreneurs. Four months. Fully personal. Application only.

Do you have another question? Reach out and we will gladly schedule a call, completely without obligation.

Fill in the application
First English Cohort · Early 2027
Apply now