The Web of Life Includes You: Reclaiming Belonging in a Disconnected World

July 3, 2026

"Deep nature connection work has allowed me to go from being a 'tourist in the forest' to a mentor that guides others to cultivate a deep understanding and meaningful relationship with themselves, others, and the natural world."

— Vanya Laporte, RCC

Many of us move through the natural world as visitors. We walk the trail, admire the view, take the photo, and head home — pleasant, but separate. Nature becomes scenery: something nice to look at.

Yet some quiet part of us suspects there is more available. That we are not meant to be tourists in our own habitat. That we, too, belong to the living world.

The loneliness of feeling separate

A great deal of modern distress has a thread of disconnection running through it. We are disconnected from our bodies, from one another, and from the land beneath our feet. We are told we are independent individuals, responsible for managing ourselves alone — and then we wonder why so many of us feel isolated and quietly exhausted.

Vanya Laporte, a Registered Clinical Counsellor in Victoria, BC, has spent over fifteen years guiding people back into relationship with the natural world. She has watched how belonging — real, felt belonging — begins to ease the ache of separation that talk alone rarely reaches.

You are already part of it

Here is the gentle, radical idea at the heart of nature-based counselling: you do not have to earn your place in the web of life. You are already a strand in it.

The same air moves through your lungs and the cedars overhead. The same water that fills Elk/Beaver Lake fills your cells. You are not observing an ecosystem from the outside; you are an expression of it. When this shifts from concept to felt experience, something in the nervous system can finally rest.

From tourist to belonging

Moving from "tourist in the forest" to genuine belonging is not about knowing the names of every plant or becoming an avid hiker. It is about relationship — slow, reciprocal, and real.

In nature-based sessions on the Saanich Peninsula, this might look like:

• Returning to the same tree or stretch of shoreline until it begins to feel like a relationship rather than a destination
• Noticing what the land offers you, and what you might offer in return
• Letting yourself be witnessed by something larger and older than your worries
• Allowing the seasons to remind you that change and rest are part of being alive

These are not grand gestures. They are small acts of attention that, over time, restore a sense of being held.

Why belonging heals

When we feel we belong, our protective parts can soften. The vigilant, lonely effort of holding everything together has somewhere to set itself down. Vanya weaves nature connection together with mindfulness, a body-centered and trauma-informed approach, and Internal Family Systems — so the felt sense of belonging is not just an idea but an embodied experience.

Many clients describe it simply: out here, they remember they are not alone.

If you are curious

If you have ever stood among trees and felt something in you exhale — a sense of coming home that you could not quite explain — that is worth following. The web of life has never stopped including you. Nature-based counselling is one way to remember your place in it.

To learn more, or to book a free Meet and Greet with Vanya Laporte, RCC, visit www.vanyalaporte.com.