Background: College students face a variety of stressors, including academic pressure, social challenges, and financial concerns. Mindfulness based intervention (MBI) may be a useful tool for reducing stress in this population. A recent technique is a combination of diaphragmatic breathing and adding a self-reflecting mantra as part of compassion mindfulness training (CMT). Limited information is available on the characteristics of individuals who use (CMT). Methods: This project investigated the use of CMT in a group of college students enrolled in engineering to reduce stress and anxiety. Forty students were recruited and answered the depression, anxiety and stress questionnaire (DASS-21) prior and following 1 week of CMT. Heart rate was recorded for 5 minutes prior to CMT and following CMT. HRV features were computed and included time, frequency and nonlinear domain as well as multiscale characteristics of the HRV – Multiscale Complex Correlation Method (msCCM). Results: Our results indicate significant improvements (p≤0.05) in DASS-21 for stress (15.9±9.9 vs 8.9±7.4), anxiety (15.3±8.9 vs 8.7±7.7) and depression (10.4±8 vs 7.1±6.7). Very Low Frequency power (VLF 0.970±0.432 vs 1.224±0.487; p=0.003) increased as did msCCM for scales 1 to 8 (scale 1: 0.1582±0.0400 vs 0.1761±0.0424; p=0.01) following CMT indicating an improvement in HRV. However, The time (RMSSD 64.955±22.008 vs 55.851±20.826; p=0.03), and the nonlinear (SD1: 0.046±0.016 vs 0.039±0.015; p=0.03) HRV features contradict this by indicating a lower parasympathetic influence synonymous with increased psychophysiological stress. Conclusion: The research outcomes indicate the beneficial effect of a short, use-as-required one week self-compassion mindfulness training on engineering students based on DASS-21 results but the HRV results need further investigation. HRV results are dependent on a multitude of factors including time of day and for students most important examination stress. For the current research most students completed the trial close to the final semester examinations.