Why Playing Small Often Looks Like Kindness

Playing Small Disguised as Selflessness

During a Reiki Level 1 class I taught in Egypt, we practised the metta meditation, a traditional Buddhist practice focused on cultivating loving-kindness. The structure is simple but profound: begin by offering goodwill toward yourself before extending it to others.

After the practice, one of the women in the class approached me, looking a little uneasy.
She told me she couldn’t do the meditation. Not because the meditation was difficult, but because it made her feel selfish.

She’d been raised by her parents and church to believe that putting herself first was wrong. That loving herself was indulgent.
Even thinking May I be happy felt like a betrayal of everything she had been taught about being kind, humble, and good.

She wasn’t unsure of her value, but something in her still shrank.

That’s the quiet face of playing small.
It often hides not in fear, but in inherited ideas about what it means to be a good person.
And without even realising it, we can keep making ourselves smaller. Hiding our true selves under a cloak of invisibility.

5 Ways to Break Out of Playing Small at Work

This week’s blog picks up exactly where that story leaves off.

Because the truth is, you can be grounded, capable, and highly competent, and still be invisible or not be felt in the room.
You might even be the one holding everything together but still find yourself overlooked.

The problem isn’t your ability. It’s how your energy is showing up. Frankly, it’s barely registering on other people’s radars.

This blog explores five patterns that cause smart, brilliant women to hold back, often without even noticing. And more importantly, it shows you how to shift them.

Not with effort, but with presence.

Read the blog here:

👉 5 Ways to Break Out of Playing Small at Work and Reach Your Full Potential 

The Competition Winner Has Been Announced

It’s official: our Reiki & Buddho Competition winner has been selected!
And she’s receiving a prize worth over £1,200:

• Full training in Reiki Levels 1 & 2

• Full training in Buddho Levels 1 & 2

• Plus 50% off any further Reiki or Buddho courses

She now has the opportunity to explore one of the deepest and most transformative journeys available through this work.

And she’s not the only one.

All runners-up are also receiving 50% off their next Reiki or Buddho training! Are you one of the lucky winners?

Thank you to every one of you who entered, supported, and shared this.

If you didn’t win, don’t step back.
The Power Within is next! And it’s where this work becomes personal.

Upcoming Events

🗓️ The Power Within
8th, 9th and 15th April (Weekdays)
A 3-day immersive journey for women ready to stop shrinking and start leading from energetic clarity and grounded confidence.

🗓️ Buddho Level 1
4th–5th April

🗓️ Reiki Level 2
18th–19th April

🗓️ Reiki Level 1
25th–26th April

Whether it shows up as guilt, hesitation, or the need to be liked, playing small can become so familiar we stop noticing it. But once you see it, you can shift it. This work isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about becoming more visible by becoming more yourself. And if you’re ready to stop waiting and start showing up fully, you already know where the path begins.

Check out The Power Within.

All the best,

Steve