1: Introducing The West Franklin Wellness Club

Your favorite modern meditation studio in Chapel Hill

Joe Niemchak
June 05, 2025

Loving Introduction :)

Hi everyone!! It’s been a while since I’ve sent out a newsletter and a lot has happened since then :) Before getting into it, I hope all of you have been wonderful and thriving 😁

Now, for the exciting news!

I’ve opened a meditation studio on Franklin St. in Chapel Hill!

The West Franklin Wellness Club had our soft opening was this past week and we had two amazing community meditations on Monday and Wednesday. Both sessions appeared to be both insightful and healing for everyone involved. There were tears, revelations, and lots of laughter in both sessions.

After our event on Monday, I was so excited that I couldn’t fall asleep until about 3am. It brought so much clarity to the fact that I’ve wanted to be a full time meditation teacher for a couple of years now. There were always so many limiting beliefs about my qualification to do so as well as the feasibility and ethics of making a living by teaching meditation (more on that later).

I won’t go too deeply in detail about me and how I felt. I wan’t y’all to know about what we do and where we are at The West Franklin Wellness Club!

Where are we located?

We are located at the top floor of The PITCH Chapel Hill on West Franklin St. Our address is as follows:

462 W Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC, 27516

In order to get to the studio, one has to walk through the main entrance of The PITCH and up the stairs to the third floor where our studio is :)

When are our events?

Right now, we have two community meditations a week on Mondays and Wednesdays at 730pm. The doors to The PITCH and The Wellness Club open at 7pm for anyone to come in, hang out, stretch, relax, or ground themselves before our group meditation starts at 730.

As of right now, these are the only two public events we have during the week. I want to make sure we can stay consistent in delivering this experience every week for the community before adding any more sessions. I’d also like to start getting the sessions filled up at maximum capacity (25 people) before adding any more events.

What else does The Wellness Club offer?

Right now, it is only me running the club. At the most broad level, the club offers a space for safety, healing, and wellbeing. Anyone is free to email or text me to visit the studio at any time to have a safe space to be.

More specifically, we can do a lot of things! For example, my good friend Sheel is visiting the club on Saturday where I will lead him through a yoga session and he’ll lead me through a TWIM meditation (TWIM stands for Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation).

Above all else, The West Franklin Wellness Club is a meditation studio so no matter who is in here or what we’re doing, I always like to include meditation. I’m always happy to meditate 1:1 with anyone in the studio and chat about meditation theory + how to become more consistent and refined in your practice of meditation.

What does the studio look like?

Our studio is extremely minimal and has a maximum occupancy of 25 people. We reset the space to be completely empty after every use and design it in whatever way we like depending on what we’re doing and how many people are here. The pictures below are my current setup as I type this newsletter. I’m currently laying down on the mat pictured below with some soft ambient music playing. I find so much joy in the fact that I can facilitate a space to peacefully play on my computer, dance, meditate, journal, do yoga, and anything else in the name of wellness.

There is a bathroom, a storage room, and a main floor here. We also have roof access which I have not used yet but would love to clean up and do rooftop meditation up there! Everything I just mentioned is pictured below. As of right now, we have access to enough chairs for 25 people, one athletic mat, a couple of meditation cushions, and a speaker. As time passes, I’d love to see more plants and comfy seating in the space. We also have an essential oil diffuser gifted to the studio by my mom (Thanks mom for always supporting me. I love you ❤️)