The contemplative organization.

Contemplative practices such as meditation and centering prayer have their roots in religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and indigenous spirituality. But over the past decade, a new way of bringing the contemplative practices associated with these traditions into society has begun to take form. Relative to the larger body of literature and studies on spirituality in the workplace, the sub-category of contemplative practice in the workplace has been less frequently explored. In general, most research on contemplative practices has focused on the physiological and psychological impact of those practices upon individual rather than groups and organizations. From October 2001 through May 2002, interviews were conducted with 78 people across the United States and one person in Canada. Individuals who were known to the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society for their innovative work in this area were the first to be interviewed. A snowball method of sampling was then used; each participant was asked for names of others who were making similar efforts to integrate a contemplative approach into their work.