“It helped me navigate being a single
working mom with a lot of grief and
kids who had grief, in a way I felt
proud of.”
Fortunately, Albarelli also had two
partners in opening the new studio —
Lezynski and Marcie Handler,
a Montclair psychologist who’d
practiced with Albarelli.
Handler had the idea to open
a meditation studio in 2017, and
approached Albarelli for advice;
Albarelli gave her the thumbs-up.
She’d recently ramped up her own
practice after attending a course
in transcendental meditation, in “a
really run-down place with pink car-
pet that smelled like sweet potatoes.”
At the time, it was the only place she
could find that taught meditation
skills.
“When I started meditating, it was
hard, and my mind was going crazy,”
Albarelli says. “Eventually, though,
I had this moment where I could
unplug from everything and it felt so
good. That’s what kept me meditat-
ing. I just wanted more of that feel-
ing.”
Not long after Handler broached
the subject of a meditation studio,
Albarelli’s husband gave her the
Christmas gift of a four-night medita-
tion retreat in Arizona. She realized
she wanted to join Handler in open-
ing Qwell. “I felt that meditation was
so powerful, and I was ready to share
it with the world,” she says.
Qwell opened its doors in spring
of 2018, downstairs from the Bar
Method space at 493 Bloomfield
Avenue, which Albarelli and Lezynski
sold shortly after opening Qwell.
The new studio, a clean and serene
space in a formerly “dirty, dingy”
basement, offers guided meditations,
sound baths, restorative yoga, well-
ness workshops, and classes for teens
and kids.
Young people, many of whom are
struggling with a “major epidemic of
anxiety,” according to Albarelli, are
a special focus. “We’re finding that
kids are really loving it and craving
it,” she says. “They come in, put their
phones away and make a cup of tea.”
MEDITATION MOMENT Lezynski, Handler
and Albarelli unplug. (Top) Class is ready to
be in session.
Working parents of young children
are another group that can benefit
enormously from a meditation prac-
tice, she says. “Before I started medi-
tating, I didn’t feel like I was doing
anything really well. When I was
home, I was thinking about work;
when I was at work, I was thinking
about the kids and always feeling
guilty about not doing enough. I was
depleted.” With regular mediation,
she says, “My internal world shifted
in a way where everything felt more
manageable.”
The benefits go beyond inner
calm and clarity. In her TEDx talk,
Albarelli cites evidence from Harvard
scientists that meditating for just
eight minutes a day for eight weeks
causes an increase in the brain’s gray
matter, which helps with cognition,
memory and emotional regulation.
To develop a consistent practice,
it’s important to devise a routine that
works with your life. “You can’t be
too judgmental with yourself and
have the perfect situation,” Albarelli
says. Her own simple goal is to “close
my eyes and sit in the silence,” focus-
ing on her breath or a mantra, which
she describes as a “meaningless
phrase.”
As the single mom of preschool-
ers, she’s discovered that the best
meditation “studio” for her is her car,
either parked outside work in the
morning or, if she doesn’t have time
then, just before going into her house
in the evening. But she doesn’t dare
try it in her own driveway, where her
kids “might see me and jump into the
car,” she laughs. Instead, she pulls
into a municipal lot down the street.
The challenge for Albarelli and her
partners is to convince others to join
them in their place of peace. “We
are introducing a new concept to
people,” she says. “They have limited
time and, most often, they dedicate
that to their bodies. The challenge is
to get people to buy into taking care
of their minds.
“But when we get people to come
to Qwell, they are like, ‘Oh, my God,
that was so good.’ They’re hooked.
It’s just getting them to take that first
step.” ■
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2019
31