As mainstream businesses become more aware of the physical health and psychological wellness benefits of meditation and other spiritual disciplines, a subtle yet powerful change in the collective corporate consciousness is taking place. It has become increasingly common to see spiritual and wellness consultants hired to help workers find inner peace on the job and to give the hard-working employees a breath of spiritual fresh air.

There are several things in this lifetime that I never consciously intended to become; a meditation consultant for business is one of them. Upon receiving a B.A. degree in Communication in 1977, and delving into the serious study of spiritual meditation in India in 1984, I never imagined I would be using both disciplines to heal stress wounds on workaday battlegrounds.

In the process, I’ve discovered that even the most highly stressed office workers have plenty of their own inner spirituality. My job is just to help them become more aware of it, and to use it to improve their work performance—and their everyday lives.

No client illustrated this for me as clearly as a large South Florida real estate firm that hired me to work with their sales staff. There was less than an hour allotted for the introductory session—a time limit which in itself is enough to put a stress consultant to the test.

I was ushered into a conference room with a dozen employees seated in chairs arranged in a tight circle. A somewhat harried-looking manager introduced me briefly, and told the group they were going to learn something about stress management and meditation. They were, like many corporate groups, a captive, somewhat unenthused audience.

One of the reasons for the lack of enthusiasm is perfectly natural. Many stressed out workers wonder if the consultant really knows what it’s like to deal with severe stress. I surprised them when I let on that I used to do phone sales for a nationwide photo studio chain many years ago, with the phone room’s supervisor-from-hell breathing over my shoulder. I told them about the job I once had selling cruise reservations by phone to some of the most demanding, seafaring curmudgeons to be found on the planet. To top it off, I shared the story of the unscrupulous employer who once had me working up to 80 hours a week, paying sweat-shop overtime. That means your pay rate drops progressively lower for each hour you work over 40 hours a week.

The skeptical, bored looks seemed to disappear from their faces in a flash. Next I asked the team to name some primary stress factors they deal with daily. The answers came in rapid-fire succession punctuated by short bursts of laughter. A young woman said her greatest stress was from sales quotas. An older woman said she dreads making cold calls. A middle-aged man admitted he felt stressed just thinking about paying his rent.

I asked if there was anyone in the room who had no problem with stress. A number of heads turned toward Bill, a heavy-set, older man sitting to my right. I asked him if there were any secret techniques or deeply held beliefs that helped him to handle all the stress of a sales career with such grace.

Bill shared his simple secret openly, and seemed glad for the opportunity. "I just do whatever I can, and know that there’s nothing I can do beyond that. And worrying about things just makes them seem worse. So I just do what I can within reason. That’s all you can do really."

An exasperated, almost envious murmur washed over the group as most everyone recognized the simple truth in Bill’s statements. Truth has a certain ring to it, and his words resonated with it undeniably. Besides, he was the only employee on the team who was visibly not suffering from or bothered by stress.

"You can tell Bill really believes what he said," I added. "But adopting a deeply held belief is something like adopting a child. In the beginning, it requires an adjustment and a commitment. You make up your mind to love, care for and nurture the new idea until the day comes when it can support itself—and you! The greatest challenge is in letting go of the old, limiting beliefs to make room for the new one to grow. One way to plant a new belief is to hold it intimately and deeply in your mind on a daily basis, to let it become a part of you."

Bill’s brief statement of truth seemed to frustrate some, especially the younger members of the team. They sensed that he’d spoken the truth, that he’d expressed wisdom which comes from experience, yet they knew it was, in their minds, just an intellectual concept.

To show them a technique for consciously letting go of tension and becoming more centered, I led them through a simple, progressive relaxation including deep breathing exercises. I could feel the restlessness in the room beginning to melt away. That was followed by a gentle meditation experience wherein each person chose the quality or virtue they most wanted to inculcate into their being, and meditated specifically on it. The stress level in the room suddenly dropped much further. Even the manager, still standing next to the door, had a marked change of facial expression. The tight-lipped mouth softened and was replaced by a gentle smile.

I was about two thirds into the brief introductory session. I’d seen them transform themselves from a somewhat exhausted, rattled troop of salespeople, into a calm yet energized team with a positive new focus.

As they gently emerged from the meditation with eyes wide open, their countenances were mixed and difficult to read at first. Some appeared to be just deeply relaxed and refreshed. Others looked gently astonished that they could feel so centered and balanced—in short, so good—while at work, in the middle of a busy day. A few looked a bit dazed by the whole thing, though happier than when they started.

Sensing that their receptivity had been heightened temporarily, I shared a couple of brief, inspirational stories from the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work. (101 Stories of Courage, Compassion & Creativity in the Workplace). The point of the stories—that even the bleakest of work environments can be transformed through acts of human kindness and consideration—was made unarguably and somewhat poetically.

I spoke about how the most difficult and obnoxious clients are often the ones who are in some kind of deep pain. They are in the greatest need of good business communication, patient understanding, extraordinary service and most of all, simple human kindness. I suggested that it is possible to train ourselves, using simple meditations daily, to take each outstandingly difficult sales prospect as a professional and personal challenge…as an opportunity to see what new heights of understanding and compassion we can rise to.

Everyone seemed to see the positive, productive potential in the new paradigm they’d just listened to so closely with their minds and hearts. I breathed a slow sigh of relief myself as I realized my goals for the session had been achieved. Faces that were mired in fatigue and harassed with worry and irritation had been uplifted. The curious mix of thought and feeling they had begun to reflect was a reevaluation of themselves and their attitudes toward work.

I closed the session with a couple of quotes as further food for thought, one having to do with how humanitarianism is good business. At this point, every member of the team was nodding to acknowledge each concept. Truth resonates deeply at the heart chakra, and they were all resonating clearly.

It was time to leave though I felt I was just getting started. That was at least a sign that things went well, and that I’d soon be back. Though it’s not always easy, it is always a privilege to create an increased awareness of inner peace, human values and spirituality at work.