Seeking Center: The Podcast

Magical Healing Using Physics + Engineering for the Body, Mind + Soul - Episode 132

• Robyn Miller Brecker, Karen Loenser, Cara Lindell • Season 2 • Episode 132

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We love discovering new ways to heal and introducing them to all of you. And we are especially in awe when someone takes it upon themselves to do something that's never been before.

Meet Cara Lindell. She is the Founder of The Bridging Institute and the Bridging® Technique, based upon her unique background as a systems engineer and a movement specialist -- yes we said SYSTEMS ENGINEER! Bridging uses the physics of the body to relieve pain, balance, coordination, anxiety, and/or developmental delays. The Bridging technique uses gentle micro-movements and stretches to quickly reset your body’s invisible movement foundation so you can thrive at any age.

Cara developed this approach based upon Physics and Systems Engineering concepts. She  also integrates her functional movement expertise and experience as a mom of two children with developmental and health gaps. Cara has a BS and MS degree in Engineering, and is certified in the General and Advanced Movement Assessment by the Prechtl General Movements Trust which is used to screen at-risk infants for neurological development. She is also a certified Medical Exercise Specialist and Personal Trainer with the American Council on Exercise.

Robyn had the privilege of experiencing the Bridging technique. She says, yes there is physics and engineering involved...and there is absolutely some energy work, aka as magic, as well. Whether or not Cara says this, in Robyn's opinion, Cara is a healing practitioner on top of all the science involved. It's unbelievable. She doesn't even have to touch you!

We'll do our best to explain -- and also discuss all of the ways this technique can be used...in addition to the inspiration of following a knowing to develop something completely new.

MORE FROM CARA LINDELL

Visit theseekingcenter.com for more from Robyn + Karen, plus mega inspo -- and the best wellness + spiritual practitioners, products and experiences on the planet!

You can also follow Seeking Center on Instagram @theseekingcenter.

Robyn: [00:00:00] I'm Robyn Miller Brecker and I'm Karen Loenser. Welcome to Seeking Center, the podcast. Join us each week as we have the conversations and we, through the spiritual and holistic clutter for you, we'll boil it down to what you need to know now, we're all about total wellness, which to us needs building a healthy life.

Karen: On a physical, mental, and spiritual level, we'll talk to the trailblazers who'll introduce you to the practices, products, and experiences that may be just what you need to hear about to transform your life. If you're listening to this, it's no accident. Think of this as your seeking center and your place to seek your center.

Robyn: And for the best wellness and spiritual practitioners, experts, products, experiences, and inspo, visit theseekingcenter. com. We love discovering new ways to heal and introducing them. To all of you. And we are especially in awe when someone takes it upon themselves to do something that's never been done before. Meet Cara Lindell. 

She is the founder of the Bridging [00:01:00] Institute and the Bridging Technique. Based upon her unique background as a systems engineer and a movement specialist. Yes, we said systems engineer. Bridging uses the physics of the body to relieve pain, balance, coordination, anxiety, and or developmental delays. technique uses gentle micro movements and stretches to quickly reset your body's invisible movement foundation so you can thrive at any age.

 developed this approach based upon physics and systems engineering concepts. She also integrates her functional movement expertise and experience as a mom of two children with developmental and health gaps. Cara has a BS and MS degree in engineering and is certified in the general and advanced movement assessment by the Prectal General Movements Trust, which is used to screen at risk infants for neurological development.

She is also a certified medical exercise specialist and personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise. I've had the privilege of experiencing the bridging technique. [00:02:00] It's hard to explain.

I told Cara. Yes, there is physics and engineering involved, and there is absolutely some energy work also known in my world as magic as well. Whether or not Cara says this, in my opinion, Cara is healing practitioner on top of all the science involved. It's unbelievable. She doesn't even have to touch you.

 We'll do our best to explain and also discuss all of the ways This technique can be used in addition to the inspiration of following and knowing to develop something completely new.

There is so much to discuss. Let's get going. Hi, Cara. 

Karen: Hi, Cara. So good to be here. So excited to talk to you about this. This is one of those concepts, I think, even for us as we're seeking and exploring is just mind blowing. So we can't wait for you to Explain what it is that you do.

 Yes. Tell us what bridging is. 

Cara: So what I thought was really cool with your name of seeking center, you're doing that [00:03:00] from a metaphysical standpoint and I'm trying to do it from a very physical standpoint . Are we centered? Are we balanced? Do left and right match for everything?

And so bridging. It actually has three parts to it. So we're assessing. So what I see, what we move, it's passive. So we talk about it like wiggling. So if I lift your leg and give it a little shake, it's like, how does that movement shimmy through? Does it get stuck? Or is there too much movement?

And so that's the physics of how the movement flows in the body. And so we're assessing, and then we're analyzing because what's happened to you and whether it's the car accident, the bike accident, the cancer treatment that you're going through, or the gallbladder surgery that you just had, or the thing that happened to you when you were five years old, those all affect how that movement goes through your body.

So we want to understand did what we find fit [00:04:00] what's happened to you? And then often if there's something that doesn't fit, it's like, Oh, I forgot. I fell on my shoulder when I was playing hockey. And, sometimes there's a bigger question mark of wait, was it all working well to start with?

Robyn: I'm so glad you're bringing that up, Cara. Yes. 

Cara: so that's where, when you read my background, the outlier is the general movement certification of the baby movements. And it's how does that play in? Because I actually, I did start with working with exercise, functional exercise.

And it's how does movement develop and evolve from the time we're microscopically big? And the cool thing is there's so much ultrasound history now that they've been able to characterize and categorize what happens at each phase of development and then what things throw it off.

An obvious one would be something like fetal alcohol or drugs or mom being sick at a particular point in time. And so all these little things . Affect this clockwork sequence of things developing. And so if we know when something got [00:05:00] off track, it's go back in time and insert the movement that they would have missed.

Is that not the most fascinating thing? 

Robyn: it's one of them for me, 

Cara: So I personally work with more adults now I've worked with a lot of kids in the past. Yeah. Yeah. But there's a lot of adults who they've been to a lot of the other practitioners that you're interviewing.

And it's they still don't have answers of why can't they feel better? And what we find is that, Oh, there's something that got off. it's probably never been right. And the more that we start restoring movement relationships, it's like, Oh, we always have to come back to that. And that's supporting some odd thing, like a twist in the foot or there's some kids who are born and it's like the cute stories because they were born with their hand on their face. how did they get born with their hands still stuck on their face? that doesn't allow shoulder and head movements to develop that the way that they should have. And so it's to reset all of those movement relationships. That's why they haven't been able to get help [00:06:00] from all the other traditional resources that they've.

And seeking. 

Robyn: , and you think about going through the birth canal, if you were born that way, not a C section, all the different things that can happen and getting stuck in all of that, 

Karen: I've mentioned this to Robyn before. Think about a long labor, And so that our little one is for hours. Maybe in that really do position and how many moms actually think about those first few weeks with a child. Maybe they're really crying because of that discomfort of that. experience, like maybe it has nothing to do with their tummy at all.

it really is a mind blowing thing to think about how much your body can be influenced 

Cara: because we always step back and ask the question of like, why? Okay, if labor was so long, like why? And the first question is okay did a shoulder get stuck? That's common where they just a little off center.

So then 

nothing: that 

Cara: makes us wonder Is there some trauma from the head to the neck to the shoulders? And then we can take a best [00:07:00] guess and see, okay, does this fit? And does the movement start to change if we support it that way? And cause really what we're doing is rewind the video to before things happen and then try to paint a different story.

Robyn: So we're going to dive. deep into this. But first, let's talk about the journey to creating the bridging technique. How did you go from being an engineer to a movement specialist and personal trainer to creating this technique and now this whole Institute? 

Cara: We are the, sum of our experiences.

So what pushed me into leaving the corporate big technical world was things that had happened in my growing up, my mom passed away when she was 56 and I was 31 and that's a wake up call and it's wow is there anything I should be doing differently?

And I was always more into health and wellness, but you get a lot more interested in it. , and then you have those pivotal points in your career where something [00:08:00] changes, then you're like, what do I do next? And the only thing that really excited me was just something in the world of health.

And I personally was into strength training. And so I'm like, there's so many benefits for women and women are so afraid to lift a weight. It's there's gotta be a better way. That's what I want to do. And also it was related to bone health.

Cause it was at the time where that was starting to become more talked about. And so I'm like, okay, we're going to Build strong muscles so that we have stronger bones. And the research was starting to come out that strength is great, but what really matters more is balance.

And so then I shifted into the balance world and there was some really great protocols and things that were coming available then that are still used now because they're just really practical. And some of the people I was working with do you work with kids too? And somewhere along the line, I got into working with kids. And then all of a sudden there was a lot of kids that I was seeing. And I learned from the kids and who are working with kids, that there are these developmental [00:09:00] sequences.

And it's more than crawl, sit, walk, there's all these little nuances. And what I started realizing is it was a different version of the muscle reset that I'd learned from someone else and what they taught me. It didn't really work with kids very well.

And so there's lots of steps to this. If this isn't working, what comes before it? Which is really different than most therapy things right now. Even if you go in and your knee hurts, they're going to do something with your knee.

and I look at it like, okay, what does the knee need to do? And how does it work with the foot and the hip? And what's the order that it should have learned that in and then rebuild that. So the one thing that's really different with bridging is that we don't give you homework.

Which the teenagers and parents love because one less fight. But once we go through a sequence of movements that are developmentally like in order we don't do it again, which Robyn, yes, we met , two plus months ago and [00:10:00] we didn't have to redo anything and it was just one time.

Yeah. 

Robyn: And we met through a mutual friend and I was fascinated with everything that Cara created and is doing. And so when I told her I had a hysterectomy a few years ago, and then I was still having a lot of pain around my pelvic area she's , me have you in the office. And , to what Cara's describing in terms of an order of things, of seeing how things work together.

But first, even looking at the way you stand and your balance in general. And I'm thinking I'm strong and I'm balanced. I was not, and just seeing how I hold my head it fascinated me because I don't think most of us realize when you're not totally in alignment I was shocked. By the before and the after, which Cara is so good at making sure you see the before and after and I was very fortunate because I also had this taped 

Karen: just trying to visualize the experience. So if someone comes to you, Cara, is it typically [00:11:00] because they are having an issue? And they haven't been able to diagnose maybe the root cause of that. And then do you just eyeball them when they walk into your office?

Robyn: one more thing to your question, which is about why they come to you for a specific issue, that issue may not actually even be related to movement. It may be related to anxiety. Or something emotional. So I just 

Karen: wanted to make sure that's I think that's because in my mind, just trying to picture when you were first started talking, I'm thinking chiropractic is this about bones and skeleton and posture and, aches and pains in that sense, but it sounds like it's So much more.

So maybe if you can just take a step back and just talk about when someone comes to you, how that process 

Cara: works. Sure. This is partly where engineering background comes into play. Cause I looked at all these developmental things and I'm like, geez, there's hundreds of little different movements.

I can't check for all of these. And over time, when I came to realize there's pivotal key transitions that actually [00:12:00] matter, it's like playing video games, you have to level up. And so when you come in, we actually check 14 things.

And we can pretty much tell exactly what's going on with only 14 things. 

Robyn: And by the way, it doesn't feel like that. It doesn't feel like 14 things. . And it takes 

Cara: like less than two minutes. That's what 

Karen: I'm 

Robyn: saying. 

Cara: We want to see how do you function in the real world? So just standing up does your body have this intrinsic, innate balance control reactions? And so if you're standing there, I'll just put my hands on your shoulders and just move you in three different planes of motion the 3d of our world.

And do you move? Is it easy and smooth? Is it symmetric? Do you feel like you're going to fall over or does nothing move? And I joke, it's like nothing moves, but you're centered. So that's better than being off center. but we'd like to get both where you're centered and moving. So we start with that and then we'll have you sit.

We'll do the same thing. Cause that tells me what's going on in your core without your [00:13:00] legs helping. And then we'll let you lay down on just your back. And literally I can lift one leg and just by the way that you lift it, do they feel like they weigh the same? That sounds so silly, but when you go check it and they don't, you can tell.

And then you can also tell it changes. And then we want to know just very simply, does your leg turn? if it's a log, can we roll it? And do they roll the same as each other? , we check arms, I'll hold by the wrist and just wiggle around. And is the wrist stuck? Maybe you broke your arm and had a cast.

Does your elbow move? Does your shoulder move? There's some interactions with the core and the limbs core and your limbs work together?

Do you roll? And then there's another one where we have you hold your knees you're curled up in a ball. And can we rock you? And this is. One where the anxiety comes in, what we find is when we can't rock somebody like an egg, often they're anxious because that rocking that internal ability to [00:14:00] beat, to rock, that's a calming mechanism.

and yeah, was it there to start with? So the, your long labor, that would be a reason why that might've been messed up. Fast labors have their own issues too. So if somebody doesn't rock, like rocking, isn't going to calm them or they really crave it.

And that's that baby that you just can't put down. And then we scoop underneath the shoulders and we just rock the shoulders. We're looking at do parts of the core, are they individually mobile? So we've got the upper part, the chest and the lower part, the abdomen, and each of those has different movement characteristics.

And then we'll just cradle under the head and see just very lightly, Does the head move? And often it doesn't. And people ask, I always carry my stress here. It's do you carry it there? Does it find its way there? Because it's tight. And often the head movement resolves itself when something else changes.

So we really are trying to get at the root cause and then we'll have people flip on their stomach again. That's two minutes right there. We'll flip on their [00:15:00] stomach and I just want to see like swimming legs. Can I lift their leg up behind them? And then there's one, we call frog legs.

This, can we turn their leg out to a frog position? And if that one is hard, people doing squats for exercise or trying to sit crisscross, that's going to be a challenge. C sections are one of the big ones that have that mocked up and 33 percent of all moms have had C sections. And then we checked does the shoulder come back and that's about it. It's so quick, but it's all these really basic relationships. And if they don't work, then all the movement that you're doing, it's causing a compensation and that's where the stress is. And the pain come from, we want to fix the micro movements between all the pieces.

And then the stress goes away and then the pain goes away. 

Karen: what's coming to my mind is how your body can tell a story. It does even realize, and you are able to hear and interpret. That story, who [00:16:00] would've thought? I can almost visualize you doing this and just with every movement, that person's story, background of their body comes to life for 

Cara: you.

And so it's funny with the stories, it really is because you get to have a variety of movement characteristics, you can really tell a lot about a person's personality. Just by how they move. Every metaphor that's out there really holds between personalities and bodies. 

Robyn: Yeah. And it also, in addition, in telling the different stories, let's say using me for an example, I came in because I had this surgery and I was having this pain. And listen, I'm sure there are things that go back to when I was actually born. However, one of the things that came up, when Cara was going through those series, for some reason, we talked about getting hit by a bike.

And I was like, Oh, I got hit by a bike . And this was even before I actually did get hit by a bike recently when I was in Paris, I was just on a walk. And. A kid hit me up with a mic. She's you didn't tell me [00:17:00] that. We're so used to just grin and bear it or you forget these things, that actually can throw my whole balance off and be causing me pain.

 Cara is able as she's talking and moving, get you to even open up about things you weren't even thinking about, 

Cara: you talked about intuitive and what really to me, it's just having learned to listen.

So whether I'm listening to the movement or I'm listening to what you tell me about people who I see more than on an ongoing basis, we take care of the original things and then they keep thinking of more. They want to work. Yeah. I've had people two years later, come back talking about something.

And I'm thinking, I don't remember that in what you originally told me. So there really is this thing of, I think your mind and your body like protecting you because you're not able to deal with it.

And so if that comes up that day, it's I think that's what we need to be working on I just met somebody a week ago. She had three different surgeries and they're all pretty significant. And okay, which one which one of these is really the thing I need to deal with [00:18:00] today?

And so it was trying to support each one of those to test. So that's the cool thing about bridging when I'm teaching it is If you're not sure you can test and if it changes, that's it. If it doesn't change, test something else. But I tested supporting the areas of each of the three surgeries and only one of them had a change that happens.

So it's okay, that's the one we're working on today. 

Karen: So will every event like that have an impact on the body in the longterm? 

Cara: I like to think of our bodies like cars. If you had all the dents and dings in your car, you would get rid of it, we don't have that option, everything that's structurally happens to us, whether you can see it or not, there's an impact to how all the little micro movements in your body are working together and healthy flow and you naturally figure out how to compensate or shift, but those build up over time. And 

Robyn: when you are.

Addressing these differences and starting to realign things. , what would you call that? A ball

peanut balls. 

Cara: so used [00:19:00] for labor. The bigger ones. The smaller ones. This is actually sold as a neck support or back support. So it was people like, wow, these are really cool. And they'll buy one just to travel with them.

For their head, but they're soft or we don't fill up all the way. And what's nice is they're really supportive. And sometimes people will be like, why are you using that? And the bigger ones I actually am using, cause I want to hold a position. Support legs or support an arm, something like that.

But the smaller one, I like to think of like my magic eraser because it kind of bonds with you and then adds a little bit of motion, but it's supportive motion. And that's what helps the muscles guide themselves back like magnets so that they're lined up and then just a tiny little motion seals that function together and that's the reset.

So everybody is you hardly did anything. How could anything change? 

Karen: So let's talk about that for a second because I had her she told me about it afterwards and how magical it was. we love the magic part. [00:20:00] So now you've identified what the issue is. How do you 

Cara: help heal that?

 we do, we use our props and we're supporting so that we can get the motion. So it's like you give it a hug. whether it's, I'm using my hands or some of the peanut balls, you want to give that area a hug and let you know you've got it.

And then you're going to guide it back to how it works and then just give it a little nudge. That's To go off and be on its own. It's just what we do and anything in our life, yes, 

Robyn: and no, because again, and this is where I think your engineering background comes in, because before we started today you were saying how you think in a certain way there's 3 percent of engineers that we, that we know of 97 percent of us are not engineers and you are thinking in a very structural way you can see us as this blueprint. You see our systems as a blueprint, whereas I can see things in many ways energetically. Like I see colors and some of us won't see any of this, right? Or you don't realize it. but when you're seeing us [00:21:00] as this blueprint, you're seeing the way things should fit together and then you do your testing, you see where you need to realign.

Karen: I'm feeling like you also intuitively see and feel. What needs to be done. 

Cara: So one of my little toys, it's actually like a structure, tend to think of stick figures when we drop people.

we call them wire people, I bought them, I didn't make them. But it's got all the key joints, but it shows the structure as a whole, 3d rather than just a line. And we're looking at how does movement transition across the different parts and related to what you're trying to do, 

so Robyn, you said the magic, it is magical. You can feel it because there's this tension. can go both ways. If there's a lack of tension and the muscles actually Reset together. Then you feel this bounce but then also if there's too much tension, you just feel like melt away, like the butter, soften.

And it's all because we're changing the pairing muscles work in groups, but the groups change depending on the angles and what we're doing. And [00:22:00] so we have to transition between all these different angles. And so if you watch me working, I'm just constantly going back and forth.

And when something gets stuck, you stop and you hold it and you find that sweet spot where it just goes together and then you let it relax and then you move on. 

Karen: It's like the body is working with you, right? And your energy, because It recognizes that you recognize it 

And that's allowing it to actually almost And I'm sorry, but I still think Cara, there's got to be something in your hands and your intention that you're doing this, that is helping support the body to recognize that you are there to heal and to improve the body in some way.

I just, I feel that. 

Cara: So whether I'm using my hands or one of my peanut balls. quality that kind of relaxes the body, it's actually a pressure because when you support, it changes the pressure. And one of the really cool physics aspects of a pressure change, which we can tell [00:23:00] when the air pressure changes, it's like that.

So if we offload some pressure, not only does it change that area, but it changes adjacent areas. 

Karen: It's like what you were saying earlier about giving the body a hug. It's like you're going tension of love and healing. And I feel like there's that. receptivity that the body actually has.

Can you talk about how you came up with this and learned all this? 

Cara: I learned personal training first after engineering. 

Robyn: So 

Cara: wait 

Robyn: a second. Okay. 

 you're an engineer, And you also have. A passion for health and wellness. You had talked about how you love strength training. Was it in that love of figuring that out? They're like, I'm going to become a personal trainer as well. Did you leave engineering? Where did you bridge that? There's 

Cara: this big event in 2001 called the dot com bust. Oh, that?

There's a lot of this have gone in new directions because the old direction came to an end. And then you step back and you're [00:24:00] like, gosh, what am I going to do next? And it's this is what really fires me up. And it's let's do it. Oh, 

Robyn: wow. That was your one door closed and your next one opened and you followed that passion.

Cara: And so even to this day, my passion is actually about being active and strong. And. So the more research that comes out in the world of healthy aging. It's all about strength and balance. And they also recognize that the normally thought of aging loss of everything.

It doesn't happen in this gradual decline. It happens in steps. You fell, you had an operation, you had a cancer treatment, you had an auto accident and every time you're sidelined. You're losing a, I think it's 4% of muscle a day. It's like a crazy number. 

Just by being in bed. Wow. Wow. And so to me, again, using game language, you wanna level back up.

If you had dropped down a level, it's I don't [00:25:00] wanna be down a level, I need to get myself back up. After I got hit by a bike. Biker. I was walking and the kid hit me from behind and I sprawled and it was not good. And normally I run and I work out. I couldn't do any of that.

I walked, but that's not all I need for my health. So bridging, put me back together so that. Two weeks later, I was back at the gym lifting weights and same timeframe I was out running again, but that's not most people's experience. They're like, Oh, I guess this is all I can do.

I need to give it time to recover. And a year later, there's no, I just can't do that anymore. 

So my passion is like getting it back up. 

Robyn: So you became a personal trainer. and you were working with people, I'm assuming, and you started to see.

Kind of a pattern. Is that what was going on? 

Cara: No. A lot of the patterns I picked up on were more with balance training. And then when I got into working with the kids , so what's really neat about the two ends of the spectrum, kids change really fast [00:26:00] and you get different feedback back.

 I still remember. I was working with kids and you'd get their core better. They're doing better in school. They're doing better in sports and all of this. And it's Oh let's do some shoulder things. And a few weeks later, the parents come back.

It's wow, I don't know what you did, but their spelling went from 60 percent to 95%. 

Robyn: And I know when we first met. You told me the story that had to do with your son, which really has stayed with me. 

Cara: So I was working with kids already just doing very specific exercises to help what I found with balance because I use balance as the organizing thing.

I am very systematic and structured and I was doing that, had been learning some different things. And along the way, my son was diagnosed with leukemia and On the side, he's going through treatment and stuff and got done with that. He's just not doing well in school or in life.

And I'm muddling my way through trying support that, but it really never dawned on me that I should try what I do with all these other kids for balance [00:27:00] with him because he's different. He had a whole different thing. And there was one day where he was waiting for me at my office and I was like, Hey, let me try this with you.

And I changed something with him because part of his treatment, this just sounds horrible, but it was three years long. And he had every month. There was a chemo drug that was like an epidural. So if you had epidurals with kids, so he had 38 of those. 

Robyn: Oh my goodness. I have the chills. 

Cara: Wow.

Don't think about scar tissue. . And literally just did something with his core that allowed his body to connect where all those treatments had been. Cause it really was like separating his lower part of his core and his upper part of his core.

And he couldn't do a squat without falling over. So I just reset his core and then he could do a squat. He left for summer camp the next day. He came from back from summer camp, six weeks later, a different person. 

Karen: Wow. 

Cara: And I'm like, wow. 

Robyn: Yeah. That really stayed with [00:28:00] me because you said what a marked difference.

There was in him as a person and that other people commented to you and , it's like you not only realigned his body, but his path in 

Cara: life. He was in special ed. We transitioned out of special ed that following year. 

Karen: Wow, such an aha!.

 just never occurred to me to really think about how the body retains That memory. I do on a spiritual level, but not on a physical level. 

Robyn: And we always talk about on this podcast how we believe from an energetic perspective which relates to a cellular level of how you store, tragic events and the body 

Cara: of belief that exactly.

Robyn: Yeah. The biology of belief. And yet here you are talking about , how it just also can make us off balance and how that off balance can then reverberate to all of these other issues. In addition to physical pain. And so if there's a [00:29:00] way to treat and realign things which is painless for everyone listening, even when you were talking about the word pressure, I literally didn't feel anything except for when you pick up my arm and you pick up my leg, which are very gentle. You don't even realize what's going on. And then all of a sudden, we took the after pictures and I literally held my head differently. I held my entire body differently. I felt different the next day. So you've figured something out here that we're as a society not talking about, which is why we're talking now.

Cara: I've been interviewing my students in the last couple of weeks because I'm trying to update some marketing for my courses, because I teach this and It's hard for me to use the term, it changes immediately because no one is expecting an immediate change. And all my students what they have loved is that because they're physical therapists, occupational therapists it changes immediately. you don't have to wait six weeks. 

Karen: that is incredible. Can you talk about how you work with just [00:30:00] in particular with the kids?

 How do you go in? Because maybe they can't even communicate with you some of that. Maybe the parents do, but they may not necessarily be able to communicate that with you. How does that work with them? 

Cara: So for the kids, we do want to know their history.

And then sometimes we have to make some assumptions, but adopted kids, it's we assess and we see this pattern okay, that's just we've seen this before. What we're trying to do is just really restore a series of movement relationships. And The thing that is different, with kids, it's actually very playful.

That's why we have our fun, colorful peanut balls. We have all different sizes and, the kids can play games. Their moms will read to them or they'll, Just sleep, whatever. But you'd expect kids to get up and run away. They're run in and it's Hey, I'm here. So in a very playful way, we're just getting all these movements to congeal and function again.

Depending on why it was off to start with, what we often recommend is the kids are [00:31:00] growing that they check in a few times a year because the physics of the body are changing as they're growing. And so the bones grow and then the muscles are tight and it's the muscles were tight before, so they really like that.

We need to help them move on. And also the demands, the kids that we see who play sports, what you expect from a club levels player of a, hockey or volleyball is going to be different than the kid who's just riding his bike around town. 

Robyn: Can you talk about there was a story that you shared about a child.

 And she was a dancer. I 

Cara: had the honor of meeting this girl, poor thing. She had been like three months trying to get help for a leg. if she was standing, she couldn't lift her leg more than this far off the ground, And Going through her history, the real big thing that happened to her, the year before, she had her appendix out and the way that the surgery is for an appendix, a gallbladder, a lot of things, it's this minimally invasive and people don't realize minimally invasive is they're sticking tubes in you [00:32:00] and blowing your belly up with gas, so there's room for these tubes to go through And then everything, they do their thing and pull it all out and go back to normal.

And it's it doesn't all naturally rearrange the right way. And so what we do is support where the scars are and just very gently, one of these just to get the abdomen. Moving uniformly and nicely and then her hip released and we could lift her leg without it screaming and pain.

And I had heard from the friend of theirs that had sent them this way, about a month later, she was back to dancing. it's just. they didn't put two and two together on that. And her next step was having hip surgery. 

 Nobody had any idea what to do. And the ortho was like we could do exploratory surgery. And I'm just like, 

Karen: they should stop to see you first, Cara. Before a major surgery if the body can be realigned in this way, which it sounds like it can, it just seems like such a natural and easy way to, 

nothing: to go. 

Robyn: And I think about when Cara and I've talked about this, for anyone who has surgery, [00:33:00] For anyone who's gives birth it almost should become part of the protocol, I know when I did have my hysterectomy and then I had to go for pelvic floor therapy, this would have been, a lot easier.

I'm not to take away from pelvic floor therapy and maybe there are other things to be learned there. and other types of physical therapy, there's a place for it for sure. But there's also a place for having this be a part of things. 

Cara: And so one of my next goals is we've got a home program coming out within a month or so of things you can do on your own to help with your recovery from a knee surgery.

Most likely it's going to be a knee replacement. So it's suggestion of buying a peanut ball and here's what you can do with it. And some of it is on your own and some of it is having a friend or partner help you. And we also are in the midst of putting one together for core cause there's so many core surgeries to support.

C section is the most common. But all those others, the hysterectomies, gallbladder, [00:34:00] oophorectomies, appendix, hernias, all of those, it's just structurally disrupts the core. And, I can fix it better if you come in and see me, but there's a lot you can do on your own. So want to empower people so that they can, help 

Robyn: themselves.

 I keep going back to what you said too, at the beginning about, Thinking of our muscles as magnets and how you can bring things back together, it's actually that. It's that easy in the terms of that relationship between those and I've never really thought about it that way. 

Cara: I know, again, back to the metaphysical energy. there's actually an energy of all of our body parts. They all have a different resonance to them. They have different energy levels. And so there is a like energy that, maybe it is magnetic, maybe 20 years from now, somebody will do a study and figure out that it is.

for real. 

Karen: It just feels so complimentary. like we were saying earlier, Cara, I think there is energy work what you're doing, but I'm also thinking about how This could work so well with some of the other modalities that we [00:35:00] talk about all the time like actual energy work that could be done.

So how do you've done sort of the realignment. And then how do you really infuse that area that's maybe had held that trauma and really emotionally let that go as well to really enable that healing take place be a really cool. I love 

Cara: over the years. I have there's some energy that every once in a while we'll have somebody we can work together and what's really cool is whether it's energy or a different like a hands on technique.

It's if somebody is going let's say craniosacral sort of thing, it's we're going to different layers. I think of I'm going from outside to inside and some of these are going inside and out and then you meet in the middle and it gets to be a faster change. 

Karen: I love looking at it from every angle. And we always say people come more comfortable sometimes with the physical aspect than the spiritual.

And so whatever works for them. I wanted to ask you said earlier about the importance of balance particularly as we get older, but in general, like what is your definition of balance [00:36:00] and why is it so important in our bodies? 

Cara: So if I go back to physics, it describes movement, but it also describes being still.

And in our bodies, if you think about heart beating, it's moving. If you think about blood rushing out and back, it's moving. And we've learned to actually appear still where there's all these moving things inside of us. 

nothing: And 

Cara: so to be still requires one kind of balance. But it's also to be in control. From the time we're born, we're learning reactions to keep ourselves safe and secure.

So there's a survival aspect to it. And when those balance reactions are missing, then we're either very reckless or we're very guarded. So trying to push somebody into I'll just try it. And it's maybe there's a reason why they're reluctant to try. it's balanced reactions. And people think of balance of standing on one foot. That's the least of it. when I'm testing, after we get past a certain point of everything working together, I want to [00:37:00] see, can you actually move and recover that movement? Get off center and come back to center.

In a controlled way and predictable way. And then, once you're there, then you want to go work with your exercise professional or whatever, to actually translate that so that you're doing more complex drills and fun things like play tennis or pickleball or whatever. 

Karen: think of it because I think at a certain point in your life, if you're carrying all this around from when maybe even before you were born, How much by the time you're older that you're carrying with you, that's out of balance. And it's no wonder that it's harder to be in balance, the older that you get. 

Cara: So it's funny, the people I follow in the health and wellness world, like the Peter Attias of the world, 

every once in a while, they will talk about the luck of the draw.

We all try to do all these healthy things, how we eat, how we exercise for living good rest of our lives. But stuff happens, That's right. It's like injury and accident are still one of the top, from a mortality [00:38:00] standpoint.

 Trying to have better balance helps. Keep that but sometimes 

Robyn: stuff happens I was saying to Cara right before we started I said so I know i'm seeing you in a few weeks because I am going back to just get checked. And I said, while I was away this summer, I got hit by another bike.

And this one was actually a lot harder. And we'll take a look at that, Didn't see it coming. I'll tell you that much. It's like you where you were hit from behind. This one came, I did not see this person hitting me. And and I'm okay, but I'm curious what it did do to my alignment. 

Cara: And , me I'm more passionate about it because of my son's issues, but it's the medical things the babies that have these life saving surgeries, there's all kinds of things that pop up later.

Cause while they're in the hospital having that surgery, they're not learning all these little movements. And how to turn and all of the stuff and then they walk but they missed all this finesse before [00:39:00] that really does make a difference. And then, do they become the anxious child are they the one that's uncoordinated or how it plays out is unique for each kid but.

It's like the stuff, all these body parts that were disrupted from the medical procedures, they still need to work. 

Robyn: Same with grownups 

Cara: too. 

Robyn: And wouldn't it be, wouldn't it be so cool to do a study where you work with. A certain number of babies, and you and then we follow them throughout a certain, number of years to see, I think that there's something there, it 

Cara: would be cool, but I've actually learned a lot about doing studies and.

Unless you're at a university and have access to this and that, And kids studies are really hard because of all the ethics involved. No, I know. It would 

Robyn: be like so unfortunate because it would be so neat to be able to quantify it for those that are skeptical and to be able to show the power. And if you start so early and it [00:40:00] becomes part of what you do when you're in the hospital, At the end of the day, 

Cara: the parents are the best.

It's Oh my God, my kid actually started sleeping and then they started crawling and it's 

Robyn: So here's a question for you. Yeah. If. If a parent comes to you with a baby, I don't know how often that happens that is like colicky or isn't sleeping or have you, again, I may not have to leave this in here.

Yeah. 

Cara: So I have in the past, but I don't see the babies. My team is got really extensive pediatric. Training and background. So they do, but it's usually we'll meet them because they're not crawling or really late to walking. But then we'll find out that , they didn't sleep well.

They didn't all these other things because they change. 

Karen: It's hard to know exactly what the symptoms may be. I'm just curious, is this bridging technique applicable to children who aren't speaking well? 

Cara: Yeah, so we were just talking about this yesterday, kids that stutter. We've met a number of kids that stuttered that it [00:41:00] clears up or mostly clears up.

And they've worked with the specialists on that, but they don't come to us because of that. They come to us because of some other physical things, but along the process, a lot of it is just how the head and the body relate to each other. When that changes, the jaw changes. And that changes relationships with the ear.

There's a lot of hearing that involves the jaw. But it also changes the muscle interactions with the tongue for formation of the sounds. And then we focus a lot on breathing because that's a movement 

nothing: and 

Cara: diaphragm is the most central muscle to the body. And impacts posture. It impacts. How we stand and how we move, but also how we breathe, but it also that affects voice and speaking.

it's all connected. 

Karen: Oh, fascinating. and again, every time I feel like we have a conversation like this, it's like, why don't we know about this? Why aren't we thinking more about this? Why aren't we sharing and studying more about [00:42:00] this, especially so simple. To do it's not evasive. It's not painful.

It isn't. 

Robyn: So as someone who is so tied in to strength and wellness, are one or two things that you think everybody should be doing on a daily or weekly basis? 

Cara: So there's two different things that the research is really strongly supporting, whether it's for physical health, emotional, cognitive health too.

And it is move your body 30 minutes a day. Every day and lift heavy things Twice a week. So it's the number in the research is 30 minutes twice a week. I know people who have shoulder issues. It's I can't lift anything. It's then you can put a weight belt, get a weighted vest.

There's a thing called rucking where you put heavy stuff in a backpack and you walk around with that for 15, 20 minutes and there's ways to get around it, but it's keep that muscle [00:43:00] mass and keep moving. 

Robyn: We can all do that. no matter what, it doesn't even have to cost anything.

No, it 

Cara: doesn't. It doesn't. Yeah. That's the great part. And if you're a gardener, I find the gardeners, between all the movement that they do and all the heavy things that they lift, it's you've got it. Yeah. 

Karen: Yeah. Is the weight is it for your legs and arms to keep your core?

Okay. Really solid. 

Cara: Is that now? So the thing that they're really finding is the importance of the strength besides just helping with your balance and whatever, it's actually the muscle mass from a metabolic standpoint, because that's your glucose and insulin regulator.

And so as people get older, there's a huge uptick in type two diabetes. And because of the muscle atrophy, the loss of muscle. And so keeping the quads, the hamstrings, the glutes, the back muscles, an abs, like that lower body, keeping that muscle mass. it keeps you safe and lets you walk and sit and stand and do stairs, but it also regulates, Metabolism.

Robyn: and now the other [00:44:00] question is there something that we should all stop doing, 

Cara: So this is my just personal thing. Most everybody I know only has so many hours in the day. Sleep is important. Being active is important. Most people tell me, Oh, I need to stretch more.

There's somebody I'm going to be in trouble with. But it's in the bigger scheme of things, if you can get in some lifting of weights and some moving around that will keep you flexible enough. Great. I hate stretching. The thing is, if it did something for you, you wouldn't have to keep doing it again.

. 

Karen: I like taking things off the list. 

Cara: The one other question that people do ask is, what's the best thing for me to do? And I've joked with this answer for a long time. And it's funny for me to see in the industry, people actually using this now.

It's what you're going to do because consistency counts more than being the perfect thing. 

Karen: question Where did bridging institute come from? did the word bridging come from? 

Cara: Thank you for asking. That goes back to, from a more of a science y kind of thing.

 My background is actually electrical [00:45:00] engineering, even though it sounds like it'd be mechanical or civil, but it's electrical. And if you bridge two circuits, you connect them together. But if you think of just literally a bridge, it's connecting two things together and we're connecting muscles together.

So that's the name, but we're also bridging your life. It's bridging you back to being active. 

Karen: I think you're, I think you are the bridge between. The body and the understanding of what's wrong, what we've been carrying and how to feel better. So thank you for following that inspiration to do what you do.

It's so unique. And yet you can tell it's been so helpful to so many people. Robyn is one of your biggest fans. I'm sure a lot of people will be wanting to know more So thank you for sharing. It's so 

Robyn: true. and. As you said, it is following the whole way through. Even becoming that electrical engineer and having that foundation to then, as you journeyed on this path, being able to put all of it together, as , we've used the, word intuition in this podcast already.

[00:46:00] So it is definitely following that and then sharing it with others. what I love in addition to this knowledge and. What you've created is your authenticity in wanting to just help everyone. And so even when you're talking about these courses that you're coming up with and finding ways to help people and empower them at home in any way possible.

That is also why I know I wanted to make sure we talk to you and we get this out in the world because it comes from such. a pure place. And that is so important in all that we're doing and bringing to people. So thank you, Cara. Thank you so much. And how can people work with you? Do they have to be in the office?

I also want to majorly plug your YouTube channel, which we'll have a link to, because what you did and are doing is you're showing people how this works. And you can find me on there too. I'll have a link to it, but can you tell us everyone can be working with you? 

Cara: We do see people in our office.

 We do have people who come from out of town [00:47:00] and we'll work with you to schedule that based on what your needs are and we'll review your history and stuff. We have done virtual sessions. The thing with that is you need a helper. So a couple people, they have a friend who's a massage therapist or physical therapist or whatever, who's not like afraid other people have their spouse.

And often it's enough help that , it changes their course of where they're at is is everything fixed? Maybe not, but it's a different help than they're getting in other ways. But yeah we can work together virtually we zoom and I watch, I coach you and you do what I tell you to do.

Robyn: and I think it's exciting that you're creating these courses for people 

Cara: not to. 

Robyn: And just for people, so they know you're in Chicago, we're in the north of Chicago. easy to get Thank you, Cara.

Thank you. And you You can find out more about the bridging technique or book a session by visiting the bridging institute. com. You can watch how Cara works and the types of ways she's able to help heal people in a [00:48:00] session at youtube.

com slash. The at sign the bridging institute will have a link to my session as well as the whole youtube channel and the bridging institute. com in our show notes. Thank you so much Cara. Thank 

Cara: you.