Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Frans Stiene of World wide

We recently had the chance to connect with Frans Stiene and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Frans, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: When was the last time you felt true joy?
Today I felt so much joy. Each day I try to remember my inner joy, my inner playfulness, and express it in my daily life as much as possible. We often look for joy out side of ourselves, but the more we look within, beyond the clouds of our pain and suffering the more we start to see our inner sunlight of joy and playfulness. Today I went for a coffee with two friends, we laughed so hard together, so freeing, and yet we also shed a tear together as we visited another friend who has to close their cafe/restaurant, But even within that sad moment we can see the light filtering through, we just have to see it. This is why it is so important to practice something like yoga, tai chi, the system of Reiki etc…so that we learn how to see beyond the clouds and to remember our inner joy and playfulness, just like a small kid who does not get caught up in their sad moments. They cry and the next moment they are laughing and playing again, no attachment. By remembering this inner joy we also start to become more and more kind to others, which in turn is also very freeing.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Frans Stiene and I am from the Netherlands, living close to Amsterdam. I travel the world, for 25 years now, teaching the system of Reiki in the USA, Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe. My books, The Inner Heart of Reiki, Reiki Insights, and The Way of Reiki are available in many different languages. First of all I write for myself so that I get a clearer understanding of what I am teaching, so that I can express these teaching in a simple, direct, and clear language, and from this my books manifested. Since 2012 I am training with a Japanese priest who has a small little temple deep in the mountains of Japan. These trainings and trainings help me to teach the system of Reiki from a very traditional viewpoint which is unique within the world of Reiki teachers. Plus one thing which make my classes and retreats unique too is that we laugh a lot, there is lots of playfulness in them. Often, specifically in spiritual practices, the teachers become too serious as if spirituality is something to be so serious about. But when we look at the Dalai Lama, Zen master Shunryu Suzuki, etc… we see that they are so playful, why? Because they have rediscovered their inner light of joy and playfulness.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I lived in the Himalayas for one year, and during that one year I met a Tibetan woman who was a healer. I only met her once but she kind of showed me, my inner light of spaciousness for the first time in a very direct way. This was many years ago now in Ladakh an amazing town deep in the mountains. I still remember it vividly, we had to sit in a semi dark room, she was chanting specific sutras and mantras and one by one she called people forward. When she called me to come to her I pointed to my lower back, as I had lots of back problems since I was a teenager. She touched me and in that instant my inner landscape changed, it was so wide, so spacious, filled with light and yet it was also dark, like the night sky. At that moment I started to cry and felt so much heat from my toes to my crown. There was no time, if you had asked me if it was a minute or a week or a month, I could not have told you so and yet I was only a few minutes with her. Later I realized that what she had pointed out within me I had also experienced when I was a young kid, but due to society, education, misunderstanding etc… I had covered this up with all sorts of clouds. This was the beginning of how I started to see the world and myself in a different way.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Of course there has been many times I wanted to give up teaching and practicing. It is not that easy. For over 25 years now The International House of Reiki has been my baby so to say, I would not say it is a business, as for me it is rather a life style. But many times I wanted to give up. But then through the help of my teachers I realized that I just should keep going, keep practicing myself and teaching the way. It is a dedication, a life style, specific choices we make in our daily life, each moment, which will help us to stand up again after we fall down. Falling down we do all the time but that is not so important, what is important is that we stand up, that we learn how to stand up again each time we fall or want to give up. These days we give up way to quickly, therefore it is important that we teach each other how to stand up, how to give a helping hand to others when they fall down or want to give up.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
The other day I was speaking at a conference in London for a few days, we all stayed at the same hotel and hanged out during the days and evenings. A few participants commented to me that I was the same person on stage as I was in the evening when there was a dinner party, or during the day when I was listening to other speakers. I do not put on masks, we already wear so many, so my own personal practices help me to put on fewer masks and to let go of older masks I have put on myself during my life. I think it is very important to show people your true self, but we can not do this is we cannot show it first to ourselves, rediscover it ourselves so to speak. First we need to learn how to be joyful within our own mind without the need for anything external, then we slowly can be ourselves, we step out of our own boxes, our own personal prison which we have created ourselves. In a way we can say that the system of Reiki, Taoism, Yoga etc… are practices and teachings, not to learn something new, but to let go of our masks and free ourselves from our self imposed prisons.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days. 
I dance every day, sometimes physically and sometimes in my own mind. We have to learn how to dance through life, life throws us all sorts of curveballs and we can let them overwhelm us or we can dance with them and let them go. Life and dance needs to be one and the same. When we dance we feel free, we feel our inner joy and playfulness. When I was young I went dancing 4 times a week or so, now I often dance in the morning after my shower. I put on some funky music and dance for a little bit, even if it is just 5 minutes before my work, it sets the tone of my day. I have some friends who come to my house in the evening to just dance together for a little bit to let go of their daily struggles. Every day needs to be an exciting adventure in which we are willing to dance even if our world is falling apart.

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Image Credits
All photos are taken by Frans Stiene

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