When I walk in my garden, I am aware that I am being bathed in a mist of plants. This is not a figurative, imagined mist, but a broth of plant substances being released throughout my garden. For the plants, it is one way that they communicate. For me, it is an emergence in the essence of plant.
I have been aware that the oxygen I breathe has originated in plants, and much of it from the plants that grow close to where I live. When I breathe in, I am taking in the expiration of my plants. They are sharing with me the oxygen which they create, even as they absorb gases from me to incorporate into their forms.
In addition to oxygen, plants release a variety of substances including terpenes. These create an atmosphere of floating plant material in my garden, in my woods, in the parks. It is bath of plant essence, ready to be absorbed by my body.
This is a real, physical connection with plants that goes beyond my senses. My plants do not remain a separate entity, but become a part of me as concretely as the avocado I ate yesterday became part of me. I take in plant bits as I breathe. I absorb plant bits through my skin.
I became aware of the harmful effects of being physically connected with plants the first time my body came in contact with secretions from poison ivy. My body didn’t like the exchange. How unaware I have been of all the friendly sharing I have had with plants, all the breathing in of plant essence, all the absorption of plant bits.
All my life, I have been walking through the plant mist and absorbing part of a world my species co-evolved with. I have a co-dependent relationship with plants as concrete and real as the relationship I have with them because they supply the oxygen I breathe.
I think I understand why my spirits rise when I walk among the plants in my garden and in the woods. What a treat to be greeted with plant essence from so many of my companion beings. They create a mist that waits for my immersion. I step into the mist and I take a deep breath. I take them with me.