Flow Yoga teachers pose together. In the back row, left to right, are Nikol Clark, Karb Bullard, Katie Middel, Susan Sorensen, Stephanie Adams Ruff and Leah Marshall. In the front row are Natalya Imboden, Lia Davidson and Jacob Fishman.
Flow Yoga teachers pose together. In the back row, left to right, are Nikol Clark, Karb Bullard, Katie Middel, Susan Sorensen, Stephanie Adams Ruff and Leah Marshall. In the front row are Natalya Imboden, Lia Davidson and Jacob Fishman.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, gyms and fitness centers were some of those hit hardest by the closures, with stricter regulations than many other types of businesses. For some of these facilities, these closures ended up becoming permanent, as they were unable to recover.
Hood River’s Flow Yoga could’ve been one of those businesses that didn’t recover. According to owner Stephanie Adams Ruff, it almost was.
“When the pandemic hit, we were already stretched really thin in terms of our downtown rent,” Adams Ruff said. “So I just went to our landlord and said, ‘We can’t do it anymore. We’re not gonna be able to survive this.’ And literally, that was the case. It was either bankruptcy, or get myself out of the lease.”
Flow Yoga had been in their space in downtown Hood River for 17 years, and their rent had nearly doubled in that time. With the pandemic and sudden closures, they just couldn’t afford it anymore.
“During this whole pandemic, we were having to close and open and close and open and close and open,” Adams Ruff said. “You know, our business was one of the businesses that had pretty specifically strict close-down orders from the governor. So we had to close quite a bit or really, really limit the attendance to the point where it’s not worth opening if you only have three people in a room.”
Adams Ruff said she was able to negotiate with the landlord and get out of the lease. But with COVID-19 closures, and now a lack of a space entirely, it could’ve been a dead end for Flow. However, Adams Ruff decided to start live-streaming and doing recordings, so people could practice yoga while they were quarantining. It was something Flow saw a lot of support with, which they were incredibly grateful for.
“We know that during the pandemic, it was really easy to turn to free online yoga, that kind of thing,” she said. “But if you really want to support a local business and have a higher quality, more personalized level of instruction, well, we appreciate all the members who made that a priority because it’s so easy to go, ‘Oh, I’m just going to do free yoga on Instagram or YouTube or whatever.’”
Flow Yoga was able to find another space, Adams Ruff said, as they used Columbia Gorge Dance Academy for 14 months, renting from owner Susan Sorenson, who is also one of Flow Yoga’s teachers.
Emma Johnson, Emma Brown, Dolly Brandt, Mike Ruff and Stephanie Adams Ruff practice the yoga warrior pose.
Contributed photo
However, Adams Ruff knew it wouldn’t be permanent. She said she was talking to one of their members, local building owner and developer Darren Blaine. He had a building he was using as a shop that he was planning to develop into office spaces. They talked, and Blaine agreed to build it out to suit their needs.
“We are now in the Heights with this beautiful new, spacious studio,” Adams Ruff said. “What was cool about being able to build it out in the midst of a pandemic was knowing that this is something that’s going to be ongoing.”
The new space has also been great in regards to safety and COVID, she said, with multiple air purification systems and the rolling bay doors they open for ventilation at least an hour every day.
“It’s great because we now know how COVID is spread, and we know it’s a respiratory virus, so having the ability to fresh-air ventilate that way and to have that level of air purification has been huge,” Adams Ruff said. “We’re in another wave of COVID now, so it’s really nice for our members to know that we have that level of air purification in our new space.”
Flow has been in their new space since September, and it’s going really well, Adams Ruff said. They also continue to do live-streaming and the majority of their classes are hybrid, with participants joining both from home and in-person.
“We really enjoyed being downtown for 17 years, but it just feels really nice to be in the Heights,” she said. “It’s a really good fit for us now.”
Flow Yoga is located at 1015 12th St. in Hood River. To see what classes they have available and the times for their classes, visit flowhoodriver.com.
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