Competition?

In 2003, Bronwen Logan (Stiene) and I published The Reiki Sourcebook, which includes a long list of different Reiki branches. If you have a quick search on the internet, you will see that now there are even more different Reiki branches.

We had hoped that by publishing The Reiki Sourcebook it would soften the idea of competition within the global Reiki community. But it seems that many people still see all these different Reiki branches as competitors.

I hear and see so often that people say and write, “My Reiki is better than yours”, “My branch is the original one”, ”My Reiki has a higher vibration than…” – you name it.

In a way this is a bit sad to see, as in fact the system of Reiki is a spiritual practice. And how can we have competition in that?

I always say that each practitioner or teacher will attract the clients and students who they need and who suit them. We all are different and that is the beauty. One practitioner or teacher is not better than the other, each just has a different approach. And each approach will attract the clients and students it needs (and who need it) at the right time.

If we think about it, the base of feeling that there are competitors really comes from fear, worry, and anger. Hey, can’t we see those within the precepts? Of course! So the antidote for feeling that others are competitors is to embody the precepts more and more in our daily life, in all we do. The more we start to do this the less we will feel the need to say or write that we are better than, higher than, more powerful than….

Thus the more we embody the precepts the more we start to hold hands together in the global Reiki community. And instead of seeing other as competitors we start to see others as fellow travellers on the path of self-discovery.

Of course this doesn’t mean that we have to agree with others about what they teach. And it also doesn’t mean that we can not say or write what we think personally as a practitioner or teacher. But it will help us to soften seeing others as competitors. It will help to keep us from feeling that we need more students or clients than the other, that we need to say we are better than, higher than, etc…

Because by seeing others as competitors, we will become very tired in the end and might even stop practicing and teaching altogether! This would be a pity as the more people practice and teach the system of Reiki the better it is for everyone; the world needs it right now. And we need each other right now too, to be in the world with kindness and compassion.

Frans Stiene

Based in Holland, Frans Stiene teaches in North America, Europe, UK, Australia and Asia.
Frans is also the author of Reiki Insights, it is the continuation of his previous book The Inner Heart of Reiki, taking your personal practice and understanding of the system of Reiki yet another step deeper.

ihreiki.com/about/reiki_teachers/frans_stiene/