- Sonja has always felt lonely, but says her new relationship with the tree has filled a void, she says
A woman describes herself as an 'ecosexual' – and says she has an 'erotic' relationship with an oak tree.
Sonja Semyonova, 45, has always felt lonely, but says her new relationship with the tree has filled a void.
Sonja, a self-intimacy guide, even says that the feelings she experiences with the tree are what she has always looked for in a person.
Sonja, from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, said, “The presence I feel with the tree is what I'm looking for, but that's a person's fantasy.
'The feeling of being small and supported by something so solid. The feeling of not being able to fall.
Sonja Semyonova, 45, pictured here with the tree, has always felt lonely, but says her new relationship with the tree has filled a void she says
Sonja, a guide to self-intimacy, even says that the feelings she experiences with the tree are what she has always looked for in a person
“I longed for that rush of erotic energy you get when you meet a new partner and it's not sustainable.”
Sonja moved to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, in the winter of 2020 and took daily walks during the lockdown.
During her walks, Sonja walked past a large oak tree near her house and in the summer of 2021 she started having 'erotic' experiences.
Sonja says: 'All winter long I walked a path along the tree five days a week. I noticed a connection with the tree.
'I'd lie to it. There was an eroticism where something so big and so old held me back.'
Sonja notes that she does not engage in physical acts with the tree and says that the feelings she gets from nature are not necessarily the same as human sexuality.
She said: 'A big misconception is that ecosexuality means sex between humans and nature, it's another way to explore the erotic.
'Watching the seasons change is an erotic act for me. You go from dead in the winter and then everything comes alive in the spring and mates.
'There are similarities between sex with people and the eroticism that ecosexuals feel with nature, but they are not the same.'
Sonja believes that everyone is ecosexual and claims that if we recognized this in ourselves, it could help solve climate problems.
She said: 'It is already present in many people. There's a reason why we want to go for picnics in parks and walks in nature.
'What we don't notice is that the reason we want this is to tap into the life force that comes from these things, which is the erotic.
'I believe we could benefit from a more symbiotic relationship with nature; that relationship could certainly be erotic.”