Jane Fonda Brings Mindfulness to Climate Action at Spirit Rock

Jane Fonda arrived at Spirit Rock Meditation Center with a message that surprised many meditation practitioners: your practice isn't meant to help you escape the climate crisis, it's meant to train you to face it.

The 87-year-old activist and actress spoke as part of Spirit Rock's new EcoDharma & Transformational Culture Program, a three-year initiative launched in January 2025. The program explores how mindfulness can support thoughtful responses to climate change across all faith backgrounds.

For decades, Fonda has turned visibility into action, from founding the Jane Fonda Climate PAC to getting arrested at climate protests. Now she's connecting with younger artists like Maggie Rogers, encouraging them to use their platforms for advocacy, while deepening her own meditation practice with teacher Roshi Joan Halifax.

In conversation with climate journalist Greg Dalton, Fonda spoke about urgency without hopelessness. "This is a moment when we have to bring our empathy to the fore," she told the audience, explaining how her acting career trained her for activism.

"Acting is a profession of empathy," Fonda said. "We have to enter the skin of another human being and understand them, even somebody that you don't like." That capacity to stay open rather than defensive has shaped both her performances and her protest work.

Fonda admitted it took years to soften what she called an "armored heart." Belonging to movements, rather than acting alone, made vulnerability possible. "If you're part of a movement, that sense allows you to become vulnerable and to open your heart," she explained.

The Ripple Effect extends far beyond one evening at Spirit Rock. Over the next three years, the EcoDharma program will offer online lectures, class series, in-person retreats, and training specifically designed to help faith leaders and activists address climate trauma with resilience and joy. The program welcomes participants from all spiritual backgrounds, using contemplative practices as tools for building awareness, compassion, and staying power.

Guided by respected teachers including Ayya Santacitta, James Baraz, and Mark Coleman, the initiative partners with organizations like One Earth Sangha and Braided Wisdom. The goal is supporting communities who engage with climate change not just as a political issue, but as a deeply emotional and spiritual challenge requiring collective care.

Fonda's appearance demonstrated what mindful leadership looks like when it refuses to separate inner work from outer action. At a moment when climate news cycles between overwhelming and numbingly normalized, her presence carried the weight of someone who has spent decades staying awake to injustice without burning out.

She framed this moment as one demanding both honesty and courage, insisting that meditation practice should strengthen our capacity to show up for hard conversations and sustained action. Her decades of work prove that presence, curiosity, and connection can awaken meaningful change across generations.