Our spring classes have sprouted! Thank you for your patience. We are excited to offer the following classes. We are putting a lot of teaching time into our former graduates this year so you will notice that we have fewer offerings to the larger community at this time.
Remember, you can always catch us on The Herbal Highway Tuesdays at 1pm, PST or anytime online. We are celebrating 25 years on the air this year! Stay tuned for Herbal Highway merchandise, coming your way soon.
We hope that you and your loved ones have had a nourishing and restorative winter.
Signing up for our newsletter or following us on Instagram or Facebook are all good ways to stay up to date with our class offerings.

Photo by Gabriel Kidegho on Unsplash
We hope you can join us! Online for now and in-person in the future.
Have any questions about our courses? Feel free to email.
info@BlueOtterSchool.com
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Building Resilience – ONLINE CLASS
The depth of our resilience speaks to how well we are able to keep doing what we need to do no matter what is happening in our lives. Sometimes, yes, we need to take a break. Our resilience allows us to meet life when we don’t have the option of taking a break. In this two-evening class we will explore herbs and other strategies that support and build resilience on physical, emotional and spiritual levels. Class tuition includes a time-limited recording of the class. Recordings are not downloadable and are available for five days after the live class. No refunds two weeks prior to start of class.
Dates: March 22 and 29, 2022
Hours: 5-7 pm, PST
Instructor: Sarah Holmes
Cost: $100-50* for the series
Registration is closed. Thank you for your interest.
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Getting to Know You: Cultivating Your Relationship with Plants – ONLINE CLASS
Do you want to have a greater level of connection to plants? Have you wanted to develop a relationship with a new plant? This class will combine instruction, guided exercises and homework to support your work in deepening your relationship to the plant world. This is an interactive class and you will get more out of it if you are able to attend live. A non-downloadable recording will be available for five days after each class.
Dates: Tuesdays, April 12, 19 and 26, 2022
Hours: 5-7 pm, PST
Instructor: Sarah Holmes
Cost: $125-75* for the series
Registration is closed.
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Stella’s Nap Lessons
Join Stella for a ten week series to support your sleep. Stella, our cat, has for years been an important part of our staff here at Blue Otter. Karyn and Sarah tend to take a break from teaching during the winter so Stella volunteered to teach at this time since people are in need of support during winter as well. Her ten part series on napping will cover many aspects of setting yourself up for good sleep. Each lesson will include information on an herbal ally and some homework.
Dates: Saturdays, January 9 – March 13
Location: Instagram and Facebook posts
Instructor: Stella
Cost: FREE!
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Energetic Herbalism Intensive – Part One
Dates:
September 21-25, 2020Spend a week immersed in the energy of the plants. In this class we will explore energetic herbalism from a Native American perspective. We will look at working with the energies of plants for yourself and in your work with other people. Class time will be a combination of lecture, discussion, meditations and energy exercises.
Postponed
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Energetic Herbalism Intensive – Part Two
November 16-20, 2020We will spend another week together reviewing, expanding and deepening our work from Part One. Open to anyone who has attended Part One.
Postponed
Mentoring Sessions
Get individualized attention with your questions. One hour sessions are available with Karyn Sanders or Sarah Holmes to ask about what is coming up for you in your herbal practice. The intention of these sessions is to provide a mentoring space for practice questions as they come up for you. Call or email for scheduling and pricing. By appointment only. 530.468.4342 or Karyn@BlueOtterSchool.com or Sarah@BlueOtterSchool.com. We look forward to hearing from you and supporting your work in the world.
“Studying with Karyn and Sarah was hands-down one of the most special, most energizing, and most challenging experiences of my life. I completed the full-time program in 2015 and I constantly draw on the wealth of knowledge I gained during that time. Offerings such as materia medica, medicine-making, and gardening are invaluable and unique to this program. Karyn and Sarah are accessible, generous, and energetic instructors who are deeply committed to their students and to the practice of truly holistic energetic herbalism.” Gina Badger, Graduate of the full-time program, 2015
“Blue Otter is a dream come true- it’s incredible to have the opportunity to be completely immersed in plant medicine through this full time program. The teachers are exceptional, supporting you to learn an extensive understanding of plant medicine and physiology, and a deep understanding of how to work with clients. The herb garden is an incredible resource where you can actually spend time with the plants you learn about, getting an opportunity to learn how to care for them as well. As a student, this class is a safe container to also do work on yourself, so you can become a strong practitioner. I can’t thank these two wonderful folks enough for the incredible support and encouragement they have provided through this program- Karyn and Sarah truly hold this medicine as sacred, and I recommend their school to anyone who is ready to do this work in a deep way. ”
Elokin Orton-Cheung, founder of Shooting Star Botanicals