Belonging Articles

A science-informed reflection on how mirroring, synchrony, shared attention, and nature-based experiences help people feel more connected, grounded, and restored. This article explores why Forest Therapy, community gatherings, and shared experiences in nature can support individual wellbeing, belonging, and healthier communities.

What It Means to Be “In Relationship with Nature”

In forest therapy, we often say the forest is the therapist, the guide opens the door. Yet the deeper invitation is not only stress reduction or relaxation—it is remembering how to be in relationship again. As Jacques Cousteau wisely said, “People protect what they love.” When we slow down long enough to feel connected to the living world, care often arises naturally. Connection can become stewardship. Presence can become belonging.

We are living through a time of enormous personal and collective change. Most of us are chronically jammed in fight, flight, or freeze , moving through our days with nervous systems stretched thin. And as U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reminds us, the antidote isn’t found in isolation — it’s in Social Prescription : deepening relationships, serving our communities, and rebuilding the threads of belonging that make us human.

Earlier this summer, I attended a moving talk at Wisdom 2.0 titled “Why Are We So Lonely?” with Dr. Vivek Murthy and Jack Kornfield. In this conversation, they explored the rising epidemic of loneliness in a world that is paradoxically more connected—and more isolated—than ever.

An Evening of Inspiration, Community, and a Call to Belong

The more I practice and share forest therapy, the more I feel like myself—at home while out in beautiful places. I literally feel my breathing slow, my mind let go, and my body relax. Nature is steadfast, always there for us, a place to find an even keel, to cultivate equanimity simply through the practice of noticing—mindfulness in nature through sensorial activation, also known as forest bathing.

Presence is a practice. It asks us to put down the phone, quiet the mental to-do list, and simply be – here and now – with another person. It’s in those moments that we gift each other something priceless: the reassurance that we’re seen, valued, and not alone.