wellness
Breathing Easier
Three women join forces to help others quell anxiety
WRITTEN BY JULIA MARTIN
S
hannon Albarelli was no
stranger to meditation
when she decided to part-
ner on a venture to open
Qwell, a studio in down-
town Montclair devoted
exclusively to the practice.
The Chatham resident, who holds
a Psy.D. and maintains a psycho-
therapy practice in Summit, had done
yoga for years; taken a course in tran-
scendental meditation, and sang the
praises of meditation to stressed-out
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HOLIDAY 2019 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
clients in her psychology practice.
As the co-owner, with Kelly
Lezynsky, of Montclair’s Bar Method
dance studio since 2011, she also
had experience running a health-
and-wellness business.
Still, it took a personal tragedy
of epic proportions for her to fully
appreciate the power of meditation to
“quiet the noise and soothe the soul,”
to quote the title of her recent TEDx
talk on the subject.
In August of 2018, two months
before Qwell was scheduled to open,
Albarelli’s 38-year-old husband
tumbled down the steep garage stairs
of their home, hit his head and died.
He left his wife with two preschool-
ers, her psychology practice, the
Bar Method studio, a new business
to launch and loads of sorrow and
stress.
“It wasn’t until then that I realized
the power and value of meditation;
it really saved my life,” she says. “It
helped me navigate being a single
IN SUPPORT OF SERENITY
Qwell Meditation &
Wellness Studio owners
Kelly Lezynski, Shannon
Albarelli and Marcie Handler