Even in a down year, Burning Man attracts tens of thousands to a remote part of the Nevada desert in the summer. Now, a members-only club in Mill Valley is offering a coworking space that has Burning Man vibes year-round.
The Portal, which has 250 paid members, is more of a lounge than a cubicle farm, with a yoga studio and a “biohacking” spa featuring cold plunges and saunas, in private zen-garden-like patios that can be reserved.
Memberships, which start at $350 a month, include unlimited yoga classes and nightly events (many cost an additional fee), ranging from cacao ceremonies with shamanic drumming and breath work to dance parties with live DJ sets.
“A lot of our focus is on wellness and community,” said co-founder Anwen Baumeister, who previously started SF hippie tea house The Center. “Our members can go and take a class, go to the members lounge, have some tea, and connect after.”
Baumeister said The Portal plans to cap membership at 800 to 1,000. Applicants are required to explain what they are passionate about and how they could share it with the community
“There’s some ties in the Burning Man culture of everyone participating,” she said. “We really love our members sharing their offerings at the community, whether it’s fireside chats they’re really passionate about or a film screening they’re featured in.”
Baumeister regularly holds sound healing workshops in the yoga studio, using gongs and crystal singing bowls.
Visitors to The Portal are asked to remove their shoes and place them in a cubby. A yoga studio to the right of the entrance is lined with potted plants and features three gongs across a wall decorated with flowering tree branches and birds.
The main coworking space blends elements of a hookah lounge, Japanese design, and quiet luxury, packed with comfy cushions and low-rise coffee tables. The room houses a couple of phone booths and a long desk, next to (of course) a small podcast studio.
“Most coworking spaces are really soulless cubicles,” said Alexander Rose, director of long-term futures at Wordpress maker Automattic.
Rose has been a member since The Portal opened. “It’s nice to be able to take a sauna and a cold plunge at your coworking space,” he said. He doesn’t even need to pack swim trunks: He generally books private reservations, meaning he can freely use the facilities in the buff.
Biohack while you work
During the day, custom speakers softly stream electronic music. At night, the space transforms with the addition of rave lighting, catering, and DJ turntables.
Jeremy Falk, who teaches yoga at The Center and also works at The Portal, said he may bring his monthly men’s circle, The Brothership, over to Marin.
“It’s a chance for men to connect and grow and remember that we’re going through similar things, and we’re stronger when we’re allowing ourselves to connect and relate and drop our hyper-competitive nature,” Falk said.
He holds workshops called Kama Flight, which are a combination of acrobatic yoga, Thai massage, and partner dancing.
Instead of a barista, there’s an xBloom coffee machine, a fancier version of Nespresso that tastes more like the real thing and uses beans from Verve, Sightglass, and Equator. Along with the tea collection, there’s an assortment of cacao.
Unlike The Battery in San Francisco, the Marin club isn’t centered around a bar, said co-founder Tim Chang. “We were more interested in doing sauna together and cold plunge and stem-cell shots. At night, with the programming, you could have a Burning Man DJ, but instead of table service, you could duck out and do cold plunge.
“When you don’t have a bar in your members area, it shifts the energy quite a bit,” Chang added.
With much of The Portal’s membership off at the Playa, the scene was relatively low-key during a recent weekday visit.
“This is our holiday of sorts,” Baumeister said in an interview the week before she left for the Nevada desert herself.
The biohacking spa wing features a hyperbaric oxygen chamber (typically used for decompression of scuba divers), a high-end massage chair, and an automated roller device that supposedly reduces cellulite.
One treatment, known as a Flowpresso, puts members in what is essentially a giant blood-pressure cuff that inflates and deflates across most of the body; the maker says it helps with lymphatic drainage, circulation, and relaxation. It feels like three-quarters of the body — rib cage and below — is inside a heated blanket that squeezes and unsqueezes the feet, calves, and trunk for 45 minutes. A staffer said most people fall asleep during their sessions.
Tiffany Fenner, a member who works in tech sales, said she likes that she can easily go back and forth between yoga and the coworking area. She particularly appreciates the music, decor, and events roster.
“They do a lot around creativity and innovation and collaboration. All of that is where I am in my life, trying to be more creative,” Fenner said. “Right when I came here, I felt at home.”