Zen meditation is where Cara developed the capacity to be with suffering she was seeing in the world of Neonatology and learning that this was not separate from the suffering within herself.  She completed teacher training in MBSR in 2008 and published a study on the impact of MBSR training in stressed healthcare providers.  She went on to a wide array of other trainings.  These included Non-Violent Communication, Naikan, Family Constellation, Internal Family Systems, Reiki, Being-With-Suffering and Motivational Interviewing.  The underlying passion for all these trainings was finding to bring the concept and practice of Healing Presence to healthcare providers.  In 2013, she started a 6-month training for UTMB medical students called the Physician Healer Scholarly Concentration.  MBSR is a cornerstone the two-month immersion experience for the over 350 students that have enrolled in this training.  This program has been adapted for faculty, residents and for Physical Therapy students at UTMB.

Since 2008, she has participated annually in month-long silent retreats in the Zen tradition at Furnace Mountain Zen Center and in 2016 was recognized as a Zen teacher and given the name Jun Je Son Sa.  For the past 6 years she has led or co-led weekend retreats either in the Zen tradition or in mindfulness practice.