After living in India on and off for four years, Paula Crossfield moved to Astoria in 2018, where she runs a business as a health educator specializing in essential oils and Ayurveda, an ancient Indian health science and sister science to yoga.

She started practicing yoga about 20 years ago while she was in college.

“I thought yoga was mostly just about stretching your body and feeling less stressed for about 10 years,” she said. “And I did it diligently, and it did help me, but I didn’t understand the deeper connection to just living a better life and being a better person that comes from that exercise.”

After college, Crossfield worked as a journalist. She co-founded Civil Eats, a news organization that tells stories about the American food system and sustainable agriculture. Following the 2008 financial crisis, she started a nonprofit called the Food and Environment Reporting Network, which supports and produces investigative journalism in areas of food, agriculture and environmental health.

“I kind of had a moment where my life really turned,” she said. “I got a divorce, and I really wanted to go to India for a long time, so I decided to take that opportunity to go.”

She took her first trip and stayed for a month. During this time, she visited her first Ayurvedic clinic, run by a family, where she also met her mentor, Robert Svoboda. Svoboda describes himself as the first Westerner ever to graduate and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India.

Crossfield continued to go back, spending long lengths of time in India learning about yoga and Ayurveda. She even bought a house in the Himalayas.

“There’s a lot of people in India who still live an Ayurvedic life even though they maybe wouldn’t know what that is. Just because they’re putting turmeric and ginger in their food and waking up with the sun and oiling their skin,” she said. “These are common things people do in India just cause it’s part of their culture.”

Before taking one of her last trips to India, Crossfield was introduced to her partner through a mutual friend. She decided to live with him on the North Coast, where he has lived for more than 15 years.

“I had been looking for exactly what I found when I came to Astoria,” Crossfield said. She said she had been longing for a place that felt like home and a sense of community.

She said she has met a community of people who are also pursuing creative or wellness-oriented paths.

She runs her health education businesses online and also works part time at The Harbor, which helps victims of domestic violence, as a shelter advocate.

After local businesses closed because of the coronavirus, she felt inspired to help.

“When all this started happening I just felt this real sense of not only do we have this amazing community in this town of people who really care about each other,” Crossfield said. “There’s a lot of people who live alone, too, who need support right now who are feeling isolated. But I knew there would be a lot of people who would be willing to step up and do something.”

She decided to start a Facebook group called Astoria Healer Circle to give providers on the North Coast a virtual platform to offer services ranging from a guided meditation or yoga class to a group discussion on grief and trauma. The group convenes every day at 5 p.m. via Zoom.

She said there is value in the wellness services offered locally, and wanted to use the group as an opportunity to show people how these services can help them in their everyday life while also supporting local providers.

“We do have a really wonderful wellness community in town and we all have relationships,” Crossfield said. “I was really worried about the small businesses and the people who are offering services like this, and what it’s going to look like once we’re out of this isolation period.”