Selma Sroka MD, Fellow AZCIM, completed medical training at the U of MN 1991 and Family Medicine Training in 1994, when she joined the faculty for the Hennepin County Medical Center's Residency Training Program. Dr. Sroka initiated a curriculum for Resident Wellness in 2001, started an Integrative Health Clinic at Whittier Clinic, and brought the IMR (Integrative Medicine in Residency) online curriculum into their training program, helping young doctors to think more holistically. She studied Maya Abdominal Massage and Spiritual Healing with Rosita Arvigo in Belize, and started integrating this approach to many symptoms into her clinical work, as well as teaching Self-Care in community workshops.
Selma found her personal path to healing through experiences/teachings with a Lakota Tiospaye (healing family) in SD in the 1990s. She was guided through a Hanblache (Vision Quest) which was about her life's work and the development of her faith. When she completed this process (which took her 11 years) she was told by her family that she had earned the right to teach. She travels back to SD for periodic reconnection with her Lakota family and Mahto Paha (Bear Butte).
She has developed classes where she provides the matrix and invites guest Indigenous Elders in to share their tradition and wisdom. She has dreamed of nurturing the development of a Traditional Healing Alliance, as a network for improving cross cultural communication and understanding
Selma began studying and practicing Curanderismo (Traditional Mexican Healing) with Elena Avila over 15 years ago through retreats at Ghost Ranch, NM, visits to her home and conferences in MN. Some years later during travel to sacred sites around Mexico City, Elena took the group to Rita Navarette Perez's Healing Center. Elena passed on 4 months later, and it was her wake/funeral in March 2011 that reconnected Selma with Rita and her apprentice Tonita Gonzales. She has been traveling to Mexico and NM to study, practice, heal, laugh and cry with them ever since. Rita gave her the mandate to share what she had learned here in MN and she continues to work toward finding ways to do that.
Since she left her clinical practice at HCMC the end of 2017, she has increased her traditional healing practice and teaching in the community. She is now teaching 2 levels of Foundations of Traditional Healing, as well as developing the Spirals of Life Training Program, to support personal growth and development
