The first Core Power yoga studio was opened in 2002 by a man named Trevor in Denver Colorado. The studio’s purpose is to allow its clients a rigorous, heated variation of yoga in a nice, clean and calming environment. The piece of this studio that can feel far from inviting is the looming price tag of each class. With a 139 dollar fee per month for membership or an over 20 dollar a class payment, no matter how addicted and committed one feels to practice it can soon become not economically feasible. That’s where the SET team comes in. SET stands for Studio Experience Team, in other words, the background team that makes each client’s experience at the studio one that they want to continue paying for. SET workers come in for at least one 90 minute shift a week in which time they clean mats, clean studios and make sure locker rooms and weights and things of that sort are properly in place and ready for participants. The shift is fairly painless, in fact, pleasant if you enjoy a good hour plus cleaning session where one’s sole focus is on making the studio sparkle, and the world slowly begins to fade out. Members of SET receive not only an incredibly discounted membership but also are paid for their work and allowed a buddy pass in which they can bring friends to certain classes for free.
Last week I started my first shift as a part of Dupont Circle’s SET team. I can honestly say it was a far better than expected first shift. With calming music, a nice atmosphere and warm bubbly faces surrounding, the hour and a half of cleaning flew by. As a college student, it can feel far too daunting to make the commitment to a job the requires many long shifts a week. The beauty of SET team is that every shift lasts no longer than 90 minutes and you could stick with just one a week or pick up 3 or 4 depending on your life schedules, wants and needs. Let me put it in this overly dramatic possibly too enthusiastic way, the SET team of core power feels like a hidden gem, the job of the century, or at least the dream job for an overtired drowning in work college student.