In 2002 we moved from Oakland, CA to the mountains of Siskiyou County in far Northern California. For
twenty years this was the fertile ground where our school grew and where we had the privilege of teaching many wonderful people and being held by the land.
During the pandemic we moved to online classes, for the first time. In the fall of 2022 we moved back to the city, this time Tacoma, WA. We now offer a combination of online and in-person classes.
“It is no easy task to attempt to put into words what studying with Karyn and Sarah means to me. I remember struggling to express my experience at Blue Otter after completing their four-month clinical training intensive in 2016. I could point to the practical skills I’d learned as an herbalist (the materia medica, medicine making, understanding body systems, intake skills, etc.), but reducing the program to the clinical aspects of herbalism felt like it left so much out. In truth, studying at Blue Otter taught me how to be in the world in a good way and how to come home to myself. It taught me how to recognize spirit in all living beings and retaught me how to be present and grounded within myself and the earth. It reminded me how interconnected we are as beings, and the importance of honoring those relationships.
In those early years after completing the four-month program, while I continued to study with Karyn and Sarah in their advanced training (Light Falling), I’d often say that my life could be organized into Before Blue Otter and After Blue Otter. Something significant shifted within me during my time at Blue Otter. Karyn says that we can only go as deep with the plants, and as deep with our clients, as we’re willing to go within ourselves. This teaching is now rooted within my body and informs all that I do. I understand now that my life has inherent value, and that in healing myself I heal the world.”
Renée Camila, Clinical Energetic Herbalist and Traditional Birthworker; 2026