The objective of this study was to examine the effects of an 8-week mindfulness-based stress-reduction programme on the resting levels of stress hormones, physical functioning and submaximal exercise responses in women with heart disease. Random selection with the numbers 1 and 2 were used to assign 18 women with documented histories of heart disease to a treatment group (n = 9) or a control group (n = 9). The intervention was provided one night each week for 2 h over a period of 8 weeks. The intervention included didactic, inductive and experiential modes of learning regarding stress responses and mindfulness skill-development training. Pre-/post-test hormonal measurements and physical function were analysed using a 2 (group) by 2 (time) analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures following the 8-week programme. Submaximal exercise responses were also compared between the treatment group and the control group following the 8-week programme. A 2 (group) by 3 (time) ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyse the data. There were no significant main effects or interaction for the resting levels of stress hormones or physical functioning. There were no significant interactions for the submaximal exercise responses; however, there were significant main effects between groups for ventilation, and between group and time for breathing frequency.