Yoga of Mindful Action
“We have the choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place.”
Dear friends,
I have written a lot about Jane Goodall this year. We spent the month of January diving into her most recent publication, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times. We practiced what I called the yoga of hope—focusing on building our strength for the journey, developing resilience, and turning toward the light. It was an interesting exploration of how our practice supports us when the world feels uncertain.
More recently, I wrote about her visit to Chicago in late September, where she spoke about the deep interconnectedness of all beings on this planet. Her talk was based on decades of observation and research. She witnessed the intricate relationships between the chimpanzees, the forest, and the people who lived around them. She reminded us that every action—no matter how small—ripples outward in ways that we may never see.
As Jane often said, “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
And that, my friends, is the yoga of mindful action.
Perhaps your yoga takes the form of a morning walk, noticing the shift of the seasons. Maybe it’s choosing compassion in a difficult moment, sharing a smile, or making an environmentally friendly purchase. Whatever shape it takes, we can make a conscious decision with each action.
We decide what kind of difference we want to make. The little ripples from those decisions can make a powerful, positive difference in our world.
Jane Goodall 1934 - 2025
With ripples of hope & love,
Nina G