When Vanessa Gomez walks around Portland’s Chinatown, it feels like she knows every single business owner. From Deadstock Coffee to Laundry to the brand new Goodies on the corner of Northwest 2nd Avenue and Davis Street, Gomez is on a first-name, hugging basis with them all.
“This is my place,” she said. “That’s why Flow In The City is here.”
Flow In The City is Gomez’s yoga business, which she describes as an “urban yoga sanctuary.” She began the business earlier this year as a once-a-week community class in the gallery space at 140 N.W. 4th Ave.
The community classes, called Flowin’, are entirely donation-based and funded out of Gomez’s own free time and day jobs teaching yoga at other local studios and Nike’s WHQ. Flowin’ and the business as a whole center on Gomez’s love for what is usually considered one of Portland’s roughest neighborhoods.
“My two North Stars really are...approachability and accessibility. There are people in this neighborhood who don't have the income for a full yoga membership and that's okay, but I still want them to have the opportunity to be able to practice yoga at least once a week,” Gomez said.
Gomez is originally from the east coast, and moved to Eugene in 2015 when she got a job with University of Oregon’s track team. Whenever she missed the city, Gomez said she’d drive up to Portland, and always found herself walking around Old Town.
Though she isn’t a native, Gomez feels a deep connection to Portland and Old Town simply because of who she is. That’s why she plays music by artists like Bad Bunny, Drake and Jhene Aiko at her yoga classes; She wants the classes to reflect the community as well as herself, which makes her stand out from other yoga studios and instructors in the city, she said.
“It's my voice, it’s how I speak, it's my big earrings, it's the big, red curly hair, it's the fact that when I walk up to my mat, I'm probably wearing Air Maxes before I take them off, it's my life experiences,” Gomez said. “I want the space to really embody the city, rather than escaping the city...I want it to be a reflection of our community, and that's why it's the sanctuary.”
Gomez’s community classes are on pause right now as she works to get the lease on the building she uses, the former location of the clothing store Produce. Here, she will build a physical location for Flow In The City, filled with art from local Old Town artists to hopefully inspire everyone who walks in.
Once the studio is built out in about a month, Gomez plans to hire more instructors to join her and hold classes during the week. No matter what though, Gomez wants to keep the free community classes at noon on Saturdays to keep her work accessible to all.
“I have been turning my wheels about turning my community class into a nonprofit, just as a way to fund the class, like truly fund the class, because right now I'm donating my time to do it,” Gomez said. “Partnering with a nonprofit is something that also has been in the back of my mind, but the moral forefront has been turning the community class into a nonprofit.”
