"When president and CEO Howard Settle decided to relocate his Lexington-based oil and gas exploration business, Century Exploration Company, to Coldstream Research Park in 2003, he was out to build more than your average office building.
Today, the 20,000-square-foot Maharishi Peace Palace, with its striking off-white interior and bright and open central atrium, stands in the heart of Coldstream as a sanctuary of inner peace and a profitable place of business.
The $4 million mansion-like estate that was funded by Settle serves as both the headquarters of his company, now called RAAM Global Energy, Inc., and the first nonprofit educational center of its kind dedicated to teaching the techniques of transcendental meditation. The dichotomy may seem unusual, but at a time when many businesses are turning to less traditional tactics for controlling skyrocketing health care costs and increasing worker productivity, more are coming to the conclusion that what's good for the mind is also good for the business.
The Peace Palace building was designed to meet the criteria of Vedic Architecture, a detailed set of construction guidelines drawn from the same basic tenets as transcendental meditation, also known as "TM." It is built to be "in tune with the intelligence of nature," stressing the efficient use of natural light and open space, alignment with cardinal compass directions and the use of natural, non-toxic building materials, said architect Sue Weller, who designed the structure along with her husband, Rick. The end result, Weller said, is an environment that enhances the practice of creativity and intelligence. In addition to the exceptionally serene workplace, RAAM, which serves as the holding company for subsidiaries in New Orleans and Houston, also offers free training in transcendental meditation as a benefit for the entire company.
For Settle, a native Lexingtonian who has practiced transcendental meditation for 35 years along with his wife, Mickey, it all boils down to a positive and enjoyable place of work for himself and his employees. He also believes his more healthy and serene surroundings have contributed to fewer allergies and colds in his office, and some employees have reported a reduction in their "winter blues" as well.
"I know people have walked into the building and they feel it," said Patty Greer, the company's receptionist, who has worked in the building since it opened and started practicing TM herself two years ago. "I don't feel anything different, but it's a very, very nice place to work." Greer also credits her workplace-endorsed practice of TM with making her feel more organized, less stressed and more patient with people.
Those who may doubt that transcendental meditation has a place in business might want to ruminate on the fact that the profitability of Settle's oil and gas exploration business has increased five-fold in the four years since relocating to the Peace Palace, he reported.
Settle attributes his company's growth to more than just his peace-enhancing environment, but having a healthy workplace doesn't hurt, he said.
"It's simply a part of the overall efficiency that we have achieved, and I would say that it certainly has played a role," Settle said.
Over the years, some studies have suggested an association between the practice of transcendental meditation and a wide variety of health benefits ranging from the reduction of high blood pressure to reduced insomnia and improved memory and IQ. Those who practice the technique, which calls for twice-daily 20-minute meditations, report an improved ability to deal with the everyday stresses of life.
According to Jeffry and Mary Murphy, the husband-and-wife team of Peace Palace co-directors who have taught TM for more than 30 years, the meditation technique founded in India almost 50 years ago by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is about more than stress management. At the same time, the Murphys said, it is not a religious movement or a passing fad of the '70s.
"It's just a technique that allows the mind to settle down very naturally," Mary Murphy said. "It's a profound level of relaxation for both mind and body."
For those in the community who want to learn, the Peace Palace offers a seven-step program in the basics of transcendental meditation over less than a week. The course carries a hefty one-time tuition cost of $2,500, which includes personal guidance and training from a certified instructor, a once-a-month follow-up program recommended for the first year and additional consultation opportunities as needed for life.
The center also offers 16-hour short courses on health and education topics including yoga, self-diagnosis based on one's heart pulse, and diet, digestion and nutrition, all taught according to age-old Indian Vedic principles, at a cost of $600 each.
"It's an investment in yourself," Jeffry Murphy said.
Those interested in learning more before they make that investment can attend the palace's introductory lectures, provided twice weekly to the public for free. The Peace Palace also offers a tuition assistance program, Jeffry Murphy said.
And while the personal, mental and health benefits offer a powerful incentive, the ultimate goal, according to Mary Murphy, is to spread the peace beyond the palace walls and into the local community.
"We'd like to see enough individuals in Lexington practicing transcendental meditation to create an effect of peace and harmony that would lower the crime rate and the accident rate, and improve the quality of life for everyone," Mary Murphy said. According to the Murphys, that kind of change could be realized if one percent of Lexington's population, less than 3,000 people, practice TM regularly, or if the square root of one percent, roughly 60 people, practice TM's more advanced methods together in one place twice a day.
The influence won't be the result of "hocus-pocus" or meditating on peace, she said. It is more like creating ripples by dropping a pebble into a pond.
"We're dropping the pebble," Jeffry Murphy added, "into the pond of human consciousness through the meditation."
The Maharishi Peace Palace of Lexington is located at 1537 Bull Lea Rd. For more information, call (859) 269-3803, or go online to www.LexingtonPeacePalace.org.