The Cura Convergence: Healing Through Science and Spirit

By Dr. Jill Strom

Its not magic, its science. Its not just science, its miraculous.
What if we knew how to engage the miraculous because we understood it scientifically?
This book comes to those who can conceive that science and spirituality arent mutually exclusive. If you have come to the point in your journey where you know there is something more and that this something is the key to everything, this book is for you.
Cura Convergence is an inspiring book that should be on the shelves of every practitioner and every person seeking to understand more about the mystery of healing. We continue to learn about the relationship of our spirit to our physical body and Cura is a magnificent addition to this library of knowledge. I hope everyone reads this book - the world would be a healthier place if they did.
Caroline Myss, Author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The Cura Convergence is a beautiful, meaningful, moving, and timely treatise. It is a masterfully crafted collation of all that has been gathered the last decade in science to prove the importance of the spiritual and energetic influence on healing. This is the sort of publication that, in truth, should change the course of western medicine.
Jim Blake, PhD, CEO, Unity World Headquarters

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jul 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504381765

Dr. Jill Strom

Jill Strom was raised in a family of healers including traditional Western medical doctoring, holistic alternative healing, counseling, and ministry. She received her undergraduate degree from Graceland University and her doctorate from Cleveland Chiropractic College of Kansas City. After graduating Summa Cum Laude, Dr. Strom continued her postgraduate education to become a pediatric specialist through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. She trained at Master Dong Chen’s Acupuncture Institute as well as earning certifications through the Acupuncture Society of America, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Dynamic Body Balancing, Herbal Therapy, and Nutritional Studies. Through her pursuit of prenatal and pediatric chiropractic care, Dr. Strom discovered her passion of fertility support. She saw countless couples that had struggled or were struggling with fertility problems and knew that she was being led to help these people. She helps couples manage the physical and emotional causes of infertility and has helped hundreds of couples experience the miracle of childbirth and parenting even if they had been told that it was impossible. Dr. Strom has a deep desire to help women achieve balance and health throughout the many transitions of their lives; be it learning to honor their cycle, preparation and support throughout the childbearing years, or easing into and out of menopause. She believes in the importance of a wellness lifestyle; balancing the energy centers of the body while incorporating chiropractic care, proper nutrition, and mind-body awareness. Outside the office, Jill Strom loves spending time with her son Jacob, running, yoga, a good book, her dog Grace, her family, and wonderful friends.

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Copyright © 2017 Dr. Jill Strom.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Joshua Van Shipley Design www.shipleydesign.com

Leeanne Seaver Creative www.seavercreative.com

Book Design

Joshua Van Shipley www.shipleydesign.com

Author photo by Seaver Creative

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-8165-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8166-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8176-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017907378

Balboa Press rev. date: 07/19/2017

Table of Contents

Foreword

How to Read Cura

Preface: The Book of Joan

Chapter 1. What is the Cura?

Chapter 2. Embodiment: How Energy Becomes You

Chapter 3. Energy: The Force of Life

Chapter 4. Evolution: A Spiritual Imperative

Chapter 5. The Cura Convergence

Chapter 6. The Healing Principles

Chapter 7. The Labyrinth of Healing

Chapter 8. Conscious Convergence

Chapter 9. The Principles of You

Chapter 10. The End is the Next Beginning

Epilogue: The true path is the one from which you cannot deviate.

Author’s Note

About the Author

Endnotes*

Foreword

When we ponder the meaning of health, we may reference the definition by the World Health Organization: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being or a state of balance, and equilibrium that an individual has established within oneself and with the environment. We may go on to explore other definitions for clarity such as this one from The Free Dictionary which says health is a relative state in which one is able to function well physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually in order to express the full range of one’s unique possibilities within the environment in which one is living. These definitions may still fall short; we may not have words to express it, but we know it when I see it intuitively.

However it is defined, the bigger question is how do we achieve this state of balance—this equilibrium of mind, body, and spirit? In conventional Western medicine, technical and scientific advancements have brought about techniques and medicines to fix the physical body—in some ways quite miraculously. Conventional medicine, however, often doesn’t address the emotional/mental component of health (patients are referred to psychologists or social workers) or the spiritual (patients are encouraged to work with their clergy). In this current Western model, physicians often don’t have the training nor the time to really know their patients who come to them for healing.

As a child growing up in the Midwest, I very much wanted to be a healer. In the 1950s and 1960s, for girls that meant becoming a nurse—which I did in the 1970s. During my formative years, I was blessed to be raised in a church that fostered strong spiritual connections with God, that believed in the worth of all persons, and used laying on of hands for healing. I never doubted there would be life after death. In my faith tradition and in my work, I saw healing take place in many situations, even in death. Over time I wanted to know more, understand more, and do more, so I decided to enter medical school. As I took classes to prepare for entry, I recognized the coursework was very reductionistic—based on biology/physical body and the science of nature, not the wonder of nature. At times, these teachings often conflicted with what I knew intuitively and spiritually, and made me question the body-soul connection. I really struggled when my beloved grandmother died in the midst of this training—was that the end for her, for our relationship? One day in my college physics class, we were learning the basic laws of nature—specifically the law that states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Rather, it transforms from one form to another. This was an epiphany for me recognizing that biology and energy do come together, that science and spirituality meet—that these were not exclusive of each other, but inclusive and part of the whole. This validated the physical/mental/emotional/spiritual nature of all beings in a wholeness that cannot and should not be separated.

This idea of wholeness/connectedness—that all is tied together energetically—has remained with me ever since, even as I practice medicine today. My training in Integrative Medicine at the Arizona Center in Integrative Medicine further bound these concepts as we learned of the energetic/healing nature of foods, herbs, homeopathy, healthy relationships, acupuncture, mind-body therapies, healthy lifestyles, osteopathy, energy medicine, prayer, and more. What we learned, and what I continue to believe, is that there are many paths to healing including surgery and medicines. As we are all unique individuals, so, too, should each person’s approach be to their own healing. This is not at one-size-fits-all concept, as is frequently seen in conventional Western medicine, but the ultimate form of individualized medicine. There is plenty of room in healing for the both/and union of Eastern and Western medicine. Fortunately, there is more evidence being published each day in medical journals showing the efficacy of integrative medicine to help those that still question.

Dr. Jill Strom has beautifully and eloquently brought the concepts of wholeness—Cura—together in this book. She explains the convergence of energy, biology, and spirituality through the science known to us today. These concepts support why we need to integrate the wisdom and knowledge of Eastern medicine and other traditional healing practices into our Western medical model to bring about the profound healing we all seek and deserve. She further helps us understand our personal role in creating our own healing path through our conscious choices. Cura gently guides us through the process of letting go of that which does not serve us well and accepting the natural flow of life with its beginnings and endings. Dr. Jill is a true healer and now shares her wisdom to unite us in this Cura Convergence.

Joy A. Weydert, MD, FAAP

Professor, Integrative Medicine and Pediatrics

University of Kansas Health System

How to Read Cura

This book comes to those who can conceive that science and spirituality aren’t mutually exclusive. If you have come to the point in your journey where you know there is something more—and that something is the key to everything—this book is for you.

If you are a healer, if you need healing, if you want to live more consciously and intentionally as a human being engaged in your own or another’s healing process, this book is for you. The chapters scaffold with meaning—watch for terms that are in bold print. They are establishing a context for the Cura Healing Convergence chart (Figure 5.1 in Chapter Five) that depicts the multidimensional relationship of science and spirit that is at the heart of all healing.

Everything in the universe exists in an ever-changing, ever-transforming cycle. While the content of this book is stamped in a linear fashion, it breathes and grows. It is important to allow space for an ever-expanding perspective and consciousness that is yet to be known.

Our theories determine what we measure, Einstein once said. The idea of actually integrating Eastern and Western medicine has rarely been considered, even theoretically, so the body of evidence measuring its connectedness and effectiveness doesn’t fully exist in an academic sense.

It is time for both schools to blend their approaches to medicine and healing, philosophically and functionally. The body of evidence we seek is our own; each one of us individually and all of us collectively. Every effort we make to discover the Cura—true healing—will reveal that this is an integrative process of science and spirit.

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Preface

The Book of Joan

The beginning of one thing is always the ending of something else, even if those events take time to unfold.

My life began in a hospital room with my mother on March 14th. Hers ended exactly 28 years later in 2008, to the day, but under very different circumstances. It is the similarity that strikes me. A hospital room. Quiet noises of people and machines, loved ones gathered. My mother cradling me when I entered this world … me holding her in my arms as she left it.

The world stops when such profound things are happening. These are moments of complete presence: birth and death. Death and birth. The beginning of something … the end of something.

After my mother died, the world stopped for many of us. Over a thousand people came to pay respects at her visitation, and many more were with us in spirit for her memorial service that followed. We were enveloped with loving support. Happiness and sorrow curl into the yin and yang of that day. I am reminded of beginnings and endings, healing and disease, life and death … of the delicate balance between honoring a life and mourning a death, between creation and destruction.

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My mother, Joan Snider Strom Millard, taught my brothers and me, and everyone who knew her, to live our passion: to recognize our purpose and know it as a calling. Hers was to be a visionary and healer in the spiritual sense. She was dynamic, spirit-led, and stubborn. She was a pastor, a leader, and a matriarch.

Our mother felt a profound sense of purpose in ministering to others, and committed her life to her church. There were strong family values embodied in that commitment—we were all raised to be of service to others. You worked hard and did anything that was asked of you—especially if it was church-related.

These are admirable qualities, and not uncommon during my mother’s era, particularly amongst the devout. However, the unintended consequence of such selflessness was to grow up without a strong sense of one’s self. For my mother and her siblings, it was understood that the needs of others were always more important than their own. This may be the stuff of great humanitarians, but it can also stymie self-awareness and self-care. If you never focus on your own feelings, you can end up not knowing how you really feel. How do you gain a sense of self if you are unaware of your own feelings? What happens when you live a life that is exemplary of what others expect of you, but is devoid of your own authentic presence