A woman describes herself as an “ecosexual and says she’s in 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.

The self-intimacy guide 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 fantasy with a person.

“The feeling of being tiny and supported by something so solid. The feeling of not being able to fall.

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“I had been craving that rush of erotic energy that comes when you meet a new partner and that is not sustainable.”

Sonja moved to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada in the winter of 2020 and went on daily walks during lockdown.

During her walks, Sonja would stroll past a large oak tree near her home and she began having “erotic” experiences in summer 2021.

Sonja said: “I was walking a path near the tree five days a week for the whole winter. I noticed a connection with the tree.

“I would lie against it. There was an eroticism with something so big and so old holding my back.”

Sonja notes that she does not engage in physical acts with the tree and says 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 people and nature, it’s a different way to explore the erotic.

“To watch the changing of the seasons is to me an erotic act. You go from death in winter and then everything comes alive in spring and mates.

“There are similarities between sex with people and the eroticism ecosexuals feel with nature, but they’re not the same.”

Sonja believes everyone is an ecosexual and claims if we recognised it within ourselves it could help solve climate issues.

She said: “It’s already present in a lot of people. There’s a reason we want to go for picnics in parks and hike in nature.

“What we fail to notice is that the reason we want this is to tap in to the life force that comes from these things, which is the erotic.

“I believe that we could gain from having a more symbiotic relationship with nature, that relationship could definitely be erotic.”