Coming across this scene might take your breath away. Or elicit a deep sigh. Do you ever consider how green plants are a part of breathing?

Linda Diane Feldt | Contributor

Spare oxygen ready in case of power failure, or for travel.

Linda Diane Feldt | Contributor

For most of the day and all of the night, I’m hearing oxygen. There is a resonant vibration that begins in the second floor bathroom, and travels even as far as the basement. It is the sound of an oxygen concentrator, collecting oxygen from the air and sending it along a long plastic tube to my brother to breathe. It helps him a lot.

My brother just moved into my guest room for the unknown future, and he needs extra oxygen to be comfortable. So I now have the constant reminder of air, breath and taking nothing for granted.

Where does that oxygen come from? The green plants. I’m reminded of a B.C. cartoon I clipped long ago. Two characters are looking at a starry sky, pondering the meaning of life. The one asks, "Why do we exist in this great universe?" The other character responds, “Because the weeds need the carbon dioxide."

And so I am reminded of the easiest harvest from the weeds and wild plants: the oxygen in the air we breathe. We breathe out carbon dioxide; the plants take it in and create oxygen. We take that in and breathe out carbon dioxide. And the cycle continues.

For most of us, there is just enough oxygen in the air. And then some people will need a little more. It is an incredible balance we take for granted — a little bit too much oxygen in the air and we’d find many more fires and other problems. A little less and — well, if you’ve ever climbed to a high elevation, you know. I’ve had altitude sickness, at 7,000 feet, and it is a miserable experience. My body really likes the level of oxygen in Ann Arbor at a few hundred feet above sea level.

A trip to the U-M Botanical Gardens this time of year is a pleasure. Simply breathing in the greenhouses with those lush green plants is a luxurious feeling. And kids love the flowers and the huge fish in the two indoor ponds.

Linda Diane Feldt | Contributor

With the hum of the oxygen concentrator in my bathroom, the clear tube snaking around the house to my brother’s nose and the relief in seeing his chest rise and fall without effort, I am reminded that the weeds give us a great deal in the form of simple oxygen. And mostly it is a good thing that we can take that for granted.

Linda Diane Feldt is a holistic health practitioner, writer and teacher “providing an integrated approach to holistic health care since 1980”. You can follow her on twitter, visit her website or contact her at ldfeldt(at)holisticwisdom.org.