“It’s just a very light, sunny room,” said Nancy Squires, another resident tutor involved in the project, as she lay on the plush off-white carpet. “On a day like today, you come into this room and you feel like it’s not winter in Cambridge.”

The tutors said the room took on even more importance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“It took off after Sept. 11 because there wasn’t a place for people to go,” Peterson said.

Despite working more hours than Peterson said she would like to count, the tutors still had to rush to open it in time for exam period.

“It took us all semester,” said Amy E. Duwel, a resident tutor. “We painted the walls ourselves, we sewed the curtains ourselves.”

The room’s construction became a team effort, with tutors, tutors’ spouses, students and the Mather superintendent helping to hang curtains, paint walls and lay the carpet down.

Even though the concept of a meditation room might be foreign to some students, Ashraf said she hopes they grow to appreciate it.

One thing is certain: the room will not be wasted by the tutors.

“I decided to make a deal with myself that I will set a certain amount of work I want to get done and after I finish I will come here,” Squires said.

—Staff writer Anne K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.