Jane Fonda didn’t come to Spirit Rock to offer comfort.
She came to focus on what we inherited, what we are losing, and what we still have to protect.
For different generations, Jane Fonda has arrived in different forms. Some of us know her as the Oscar-winning actress whose early roles challenged cultural norms in films such as Clute And coming home; Others may remember him from his popular fitness workouts in the early 80s (if you know, you know.)
But Jane Fonda doesn’t just redefine herself decade after decade, she rehabilitates and reconstructs the structures and movements she’s a part of. Whether it’s turning fitness into accessible self-care for women, relaunching the Committee for the First Amendment (free speech, anyone?), Jane Fonda tackling the climate crisis by starting Climate PAC, or redefining vitality for someone later in life through her role on a beloved show. Grace and Frankie. However, these chapters only hint at a deeper line.
Jane Fonda models a kind of mindful leadership rooted not in legacy, but in invitation, showing how presence, curiosity, and connections can awaken action in every generation.
For decades, Fonda has leveraged her visibility as a platform, founding media outlets, engaging in grassroots organizing, lending her body to protest, and repeatedly engaging in uncomfortable conversations in the service of collective change. Today, she directs that same attention to the climate crisis, whether by building relationships with young artists like Maggie Rogers, who became more open to climate and social advocacy after connecting with Fonda, or by studying with Roshi John Halifax to deepen her meditative practice and demonstrate it to the world.
One thing is certain: Jane Fonda has modeled a kind of mindful leadership rooted not in legacy, but in invitation, showing how presence, curiosity and connection can awaken action in every generation.
Mindfulness as training, not escape
Fonda recently spoke as part of Spirit Rock’s Ecoderma and Transformational Culture Program (ETCP), a three-year initiative launched in January 2025 that explores how mindfulness and theoretical practices can support more intentional responses to climate change. Although the program is based on Buddhist teachings, it is intentionally inclusive, inviting participants from diverse faiths and backgrounds.
In the context of ETCP, “spirituality” refers to practices that help build awareness, compassion, and resilience. The program addresses the intersection of mindfulness, environmental issues, and the urgent need for thoughtful, effective action.
For many readers of Mindfulnessmeditation can feel like a refuge, a place to get away from the relentless spell of news cycles, politics and environmental grief. What this Spirit Rock gathering made clear is that mindfulness was never meant to be an escape hatch. It meant training.
In a moment when the climate crisis is simultaneously exaggerated and alarmingly normalized, Fonda’s presence at Spirit Rock Meditation Center landed with the weight of lived experience. Her conversation with climate journalist Greg Dalton served as a deeply reflective inquiry into what it means to be awake, empathetic, and engaged with time.
For many readers of Mindfulnessmeditation can feel like a refuge, a place to get away from the relentless spell of news cycles, politics and environmental grief. What this Spirit Rock gathering made clear is that mindfulness was never meant to be an escape hatch. It meant training.
Urgent and hopeful
Fonda spoke in terms of urgency, but not from a place of hopelessness. Instead, he called the moment one that demanded both honesty and courage. “This is a moment when we have to bring our compassion to the fore,” he said, describing the deep divide in public life. Empathy, for her, is not a passive feeling—it is an active discipline, which she traces directly to her life in the arts.
“Acting is a profession of empathy,” Fonda explained. “We have to get into the skin of another human being and understand them… You can’t do that without empathy. And you have to have compassion for anyone you don’t like.”
That ability to be open rather than armored has helped shape his activism as much as his performances. Fonda spoke candidly about how long it took for her to soften, calling it “an armored heart,” and made the threat possible, belonging to movements, rather than working alone. “There can be a moment in life when you enter a situation and, you know, this is where I’m supposed to be,” he said. “If you’re not alone, if you’re part of a movement, that feeling allows you to be vulnerable and open up.”
This insistence on collective action, rooted in relationships rather than righteousness, ran throughout the discourse.
ETCP’s mission is twofold: to address climate shocks with resilience and happiness, and to empower a new generation of global citizens.
Over the next three years, et al will offer online lectures, class series, in-person retreats, and training programs designed to help communities engage with climate change not only as a scientific or political issue, but also as a highly emotional and spiritual one. The program is guided by a core planning team of respected teachers and leaders, including Aya Sintakita, Bonnie Doran, Carol Cano, James Baraz, Kristen Rodstam, Kristen Barker, Mark Coleman, and Yong Oh, in collaboration with partners in the room such as One Earth Sangha, Brad Wisdom, Aloka Earth.
Its mission is twofold: to support international leaders and activists to meet climate shock with resilience and joy, and to empower a new generation of global citizens. At its heart is a radical proposition – that happiness, mindfulness and love of the earth are not a distraction from climate action, even though it is necessary to sustain it.
When mindsets meet the climate crisis
For many meditators, the connection between mindfulness and climate change is not obvious. Sitting quietly with breath can feel far away from melting ice caps, polluted water systems, or data centers sprawling across the landscape.
Fonda expressed concern about AI and the rapid pace of technological advancement. “I’m terrified of it,” he admits, acknowledging his complicated relationship with technology. “The chat on my phone is GPT. I feel guilty… doesn’t understand me well enough to know how to deal with it.”
Instead of offering easy answers, Fonda modeled something rare: a willingness to live with not knowing without becoming dysfunctional. Climate action doesn’t start with expertise, he suggests. It starts with focus.
His reflections on indigenous knowledge highlighted what had been lost through disconnection. Recalling the time he spent learning about the Ecuadorian rains, he spoke of the communities that coexist with the land. “They showed us which plants were susceptible to which diseases,” he said. “We once knew how to listen to plants. How we have forgotten.”
Mindful engagement doesn’t mean doing everything. It means doing something with intention, along with others.
Ecoderma, as Spirit Rock frames it, is exactly what it’s being remembered for—not nostalgically, but practically. And a key part of the practice, when we keep both dharma and the environment front and center in our minds, is realizing that we all have something to do, no matter how small a task or step. As ETCP leaders emphasize, mindful engagement does not mean doing everything. It means doing something with intention, along with others.
Identifying our unique role to play
A recurring question during the retreat was one that many people carry silently: what can i do
Fonda’s response was pragmatic and nonchalant. After years of protesting during Fire Drill Friday, he and a small group of colleagues recognized a gap between public pressure and policy change. “We haven’t got the law working with the science that we have,” he said. “That’s because too many elected officials take money from the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries.”
This realization led to the formation of Jane Fonda Climate PAC, a political action committee focused on grassroots races and state and local positions that often receive little attention but have enormous influence on climate outcomes. “Public utilities, school boards, city councils, state legislatures, attorneys general,” Fonda noted. “All these people have great power.”
The results have been amazing: hundreds of climate champions have been elected, many of them women and women of color, who are willing to publicly stand up for environmental rights. “It’s working,” he said.
Alternative entries refer to climate action
For those wary of politics, Spirit Rock’s Ecoderma program offers additional entry points and ways to engage, emphasizing joy-based action, interconnectedness, and resilience. This programming is specifically designed for those who feel overwhelmed, polarized, or exhausted by the climate conversation.
Perhaps the most resonant moment of listening to Fonda’s speech was when she was asked about courage—after decades in the public eye, she continues to speak so openly, without becoming defensive.
“It’s been a process,” he said. “It took me a long, long time to open up.” What changed was not the trust, but the relationship. “Being part of a movement… allows you to be vulnerable.”
He talked about caregiving, sleep, community, working with people he admired—necessities, not pleasures. “I’m a late bloomer,” she said with a smile. “But it’s okay to be a late bloomer as long as you don’t miss the flower show. And I’m in the middle of a flower show.”
Ecoderma practitioners are not asked to give up silence. It asks them to let silence know their reaction. Allowing mindfulness to expand into care, and care into action.
In this image, the flowers blooming against the odds were a calm invitation. Ecoderma practitioners are not asked to give up silence. It asks them to let silence know their reaction. Allowing mindfulness to expand into care, and care into action.
As Fonda reminded the room, hope isn’t something we wait for.
It’s something we practice.
For more ways to connect, here’s a Mindful Action Guide to use and share. Links are also provided below.
