(FORTUNE Magazine) – Corporate adviser Stanley Goodman, 77, the retired chairman of the May Department Stores, schedules client meetings around it. E.F. Hutton Vice Presidents Charles Lieb, 39, and Robert LoPinto, 30, prefer to do it in a group. Executives at Sumitomo Heavy Industries in Japan made a video promoting it. ''It'' is Transcendental Meditation, a stress-reduction technique imported from India 30 years ago by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. To achieve a heightened state of consciousness, twice a day practitioners sit with their eyes closed for 20 minutes, focusing on a meaningless sound, or mantra. Is it a cult? No, says Goodman: ''It is just a technique for achieving a healthy, well-balanced emotional system.'' Forget the Maharishi's stuff about yogic flying. Though most executives still prefer to keep their mantra in the closet, FORTUNE has collared a few notable meditators. Among them: Barney Baxter, 62, retired president of CF Industries; George Troutman, 62, a vice president of Bell Helicopter; Mitch Kapor, 36, founder of Lotus Development Corp.; Donald Weber, 54, chairman of Financial Guardian Group, and Christopher Hegarty, 52, a consultant and author of the book How to Manage Your Boss.