FROM MOUNTAINS TO MEDICINE

Readers who attended Erica’s webinar a few weeks ago will have encountered her exuberant love of life, which shines through the pages of this second volume of autobiography as ‘an intrepid explorer of cultures, people, mountains, and medicine’ (Joan Borysenko). In the first volume, reviewed in these pages some years ago, Erica told the story of her life as a physician among the Navajo people, riding horses and going on long solo treks. On one of these, she wakes to find a mountain lion staring down at her, causing an elder to comment that the animal would become her guardian and endow her with the courage, strength, fortitude and determination that she would need to face the challenges of life. This gripping narrative tells the story of her experiences up to the time of her eventual discovery of her calling as a physician and healer.

Erica’s strong and adventurous character was forged during her complex upbringing as one of six children. She goes to great lengths to achieve the approval of her father, including at the age of 10 being the only girl in a shooting group. In the course of time, she comes to understand the harsh judgements of her mother shaped by her own upbringing, training her children to be tough and not to complain. We learn about her childhood after she has a breakdown at Antioch College where she found herself among kindred free spirits and married young – though the pressure proved to be too much for the relationship. After a suicide attempt, the College forced her to undergo a series of sessions with a psychiatrist, Dr Samuels. These proved to be a revelation, and enabled her to come to terms with her past experiences and to understand the human flaws of her parents, where both felt starved of affection. There is an incredibly moving scene where she brings herself to say “I love you” to her mother, which transforms their relationship. The conversations with Dr Samuels conclude by her realising that she now has the tools and insights to navigate her future life.

The next formative episode is an invitation from her mother’s brother, physician Uncle Ernst to spend a month in his home where his clinic was located in Switzerland. As a younger man, he had recovered from cancer through the kind of naturopathic treatment that he now offered to his patients, many of whom came to him as a last resort. He announced on her arrival that she would undertake a two-week fast, followed by gradual reintroduction to a diet of raw food. This was a daunting prospect, including coffee enemas, sauna therapy, and walking barefoot. Along with the books she read, the process proved transformative for her health, and she also had a mystical experience of cosmic love. Ernst practised what he preached, eating very little and seeing patients until the age of 91. Crucially for her later medical practice, she learns about the real foundations of health and the importance of the thoughts we focus on and times spent in nature.

Erica’s next assignment is working for the Peace Corps in Ecuador, where she is initiated into climbing and trained by local experts. Climbing is regarded as a man’s sport, but Jorge looks after her on her first major climb, which she senses is connected with finding her life purpose. Antisana poses a veritable challenge, as an introduction to soroche, puna or mountain sickness. Erica gradually realises the deeper meaning of climbing to the summit: ‘The climbs served as a metaphor for my life and all the efforts I made at overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles – including self-doubts, feelings of not being good enough, and other self-limiting beliefs about myself.’ (p. 140) She comes to realise that her body and mind have far more capacity than she had realised to meet both mental and physical challenges – some of the situations described are extreme, testing people even beyond their limits. Later, she confesses to fear when climbing the glaciers, commenting, “I’m terrified, but I do it anyway.” Erica proves equal to these situations, even carrying a man’s heavy backpack and acquiring a reputation as a mountain goat, literally proceeding one step at a time with intense focus and concentration. Her time spent with a Quechua Community in the high Andes turns out to be another form of - vividly evoked – initiation, where she also becomes aware of her own healing powers, and her impulse to serve people in need. Other incidents are darker and more threatening – a dangerous lift and a brutal back street abortion…

The climbing culminates in the ascent of Mt Aconcagua, the roof of the Americas, where more than 250 people have died in the attempt, stricken by exhaustion, puna, cold and dehydration. On the first occasion, she is lucky to have escorted another climber down the mountain, given the atrocious conditions further up. The hugely gritty successful climb makes for compelling - indeed agonising - reading as two of her fellow climbers reach the end of their strength, but she makes it to the summit as the first American woman certified to do so. Running through the narrative are her great loves with companion climbers Jorge and Mateo, though both for different reasons end in great sadness. Back home, with reverse culture shock, Erica once again senses a deep malaise, and it is her father who suggests that she might train as a doctor. She takes extra science courses and trains as an emergency medical technician in the context of leading Outward Bound expeditions.

Her description of a tough 23-day excursion is extraordinarily inspiring as a character-building exercise for the participants, each of whom has their own fears and shortcomings. One of the youngest students is Jackson, a gang leader who is sent on the course by judge, while Jerome is a retired MIT professor. Their story of mutual support is heart-warming, as is the development of team spirit and a real esprit de corps. All the participants come up against their limits, and are challenged to surpass them in a variety of situations, summed up in the proud affirmation “We did it!” They all open up to each other in deep sharing and connection. For Jackson, the prospect of spending three days in solitude was daunting, and Erica reminds the group of the inner strength and resilience they are all developing as an investment in their futures. In one typical case, she receives a letter from parents astonished that their children have become different people.

The closing chapter of this remarkable saga includes an interview with a guidance counsellor who tells Erica that she has no chance of getting into medical school, to which she replies never to underestimate the power of a vision. She even manages to get a Stanford admissions officer to travel down to Colorado to interview her in the context of offering him a cross country skiing expedition – they were interested in her as an out of the box candidate. In the end, she goes to University of Colorado. For me, the essence of the book lies in its witness to authenticity and following one’s inner compass while being fully committed to living one’s unique human life to the full.