A Haven Beneath the Atrium: UCI’s Meditation Space

A yoga lounge, a sacred space for prayer, a place to unplug, a Muslim community’s hub, and a haven of serenity and relaxation, UCI’s Meditation Space is tucked quietly inside the Student Center where the afternoon light peeks through the blue and yellow sun canopies of the neighboring atrium. Two unsuspecting doors on the west side lead down a flight of stairs to the underground that comes upon a gentle trickle from the atrium’s fountain, serenely ushering students through the glass doors into the Meditation space.

The Meditation Space, is readily available for any student use, but 3 to 4 times a day, becomes a de facto prayer room for Muslim students who once prayed on the pavement outside the Cross Cultural Center, rain or shine. On Fridays over 100 Muslim students crowd into the space where special speakers and volunteers lead communal prayer. What's more surprising, the room is only a couple of years old, completed in May 2022, its existence a fairly well kept secret, and its creation highly unorthodox.

Two crates of mats sit on either side of the misshapen room, like a crooked diamond with little nooks to hide in. Vinyl cushion rounds on stubby wooden legs are strewn about the padded floors. Two large pillars painted blue and yellow and a felt privacy screen with snowflake cutouts section off the space so that multiple students can use it and at once have sanctuary.

Inside, a blue mat tinged gray with grime unrolls to the ground with a quiet slap. On a typical day in the Meditation Space, a pyramid of shoeless feet prostrate in grounded devotion, its point chanting verses of prayer. Two bookshelf cubbies are sparsely occupied with sneakers. From outside the floor to ceiling windows, muted rays of sunshine and dimmed street noise warm the room. Behind the pyramid, 5 women in multicolored hijabs line shoulder to shoulder and pray quietly in unison: cerulean, burgundy, olive, black, and navy. The plants here don’t need much sunlight; snake plants, tigress plants, pothos plants and dracena plants sprout happily along every wall of the room. On rare occasions, students come to stretch, practice breath work and yoga, nap, or meditate.

In the Fall of 2016, the Interfaith Center, an old bungalow next to Middle Earth housing closed down due to “structural issues and safety hazards”, like not being earthquake safe. It was the only space that faith related clubs like the Muslim Student Union could store club belongings and reserve at will for congregational prayers, meetings and activities. UCI's failure to replace the center despite many student pleas was based on the claim that such a space would violate a "separation of church and state" says Aliza Hasnain alumni and 2022/23 MSU president. It left MSUers scrambling every week to reserve a space for 100+ Muslims' Friday congregational prayer. Often they would turn to the Cross Cultural Center's Dr. White Room, or Ring Room but neither space was ever guaranteed.

But ASUCI senator Murad Aldoghmi's legislation presents another side to the story. It advocated for the rebuilding or relocating of a space for interfaith activities by the end of the 2016 Fall quarter, a proposition that received unanimous approval from the Student Center Advisory Board that November. Still, by Winter of 2019, no such progress had been made.

This problem only compounded the existing issue that MSUers had to pray outside for their 5 times daily prayers.

Three main reasons necessitated a safe space for Muslim students on campus to be able to pray says alumni Hasnain. The first was weather, as on unpredictable days mats left out would be soaked and ruined, and students had to find alternative corners of campus to pray. Secondly, the large population of Muslims on campus made it hard to find a simple alternative that could accommodate so many students. Lastly, she says, were the experiences MSU cited as Islamophobia. There were times which threatening flyers were left in the places that Muslims typically went to pray, scaring students. In another instance, a non-student who wandered onto UCI's public campus, disrupted prayer by shouting "vile" comments at the students.

Enter Eiman Abdoalsadig, who introduced herself as the first black and woman president of MSU in 20 years with her presidency during the 2020/21 school year. She is the real founder of the Meditation Space, who worked alongside Dean of Students Rameen Talesh, Interim Director of the Student Center Amy Schulz, and Director of the Cross Cultural Center Dr. Marcela Ramirez-Stapleton to inspire the change she wished to see.

"I wanted it to be a safe space for meditating praying, self reflecting and so much more,” said Eiman Abdoalsadig. “I wanted to create a space for all of UCI to use.”

She began in her sophomore year of 2018/19 as MSU's secretary and an ASUCI senator arguing that UCI was among the only UC campuses that did not have a designated meditation space on campus and citing the Student Center Advisory Board's promise to Aldoghmi's legislation in 2016. Her proposal was taken to board who again, voted unanimously for the space.

"That was a huge victory for us," Abdoalsadig said, "but I knew I had to keep pushing to actually make this thing happen."

What ensued was what Abdoalsadig described as a "lull" until MSU reported an incident of Islamophobia to the Cross Cultural Center. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, compelling action from UCI's leaders and she began meeting with Dean Talesh on a monthly basis to make plans for the future space.

While there were several proposed locations for the Meditation Space such as a trailer in Lot 5, Abdoalsadig felt it was necessary that the space be central to campus, and what was once a computer lab became “Meditation Space. Open daily 7:30 am- 11:30 pm. Quiet Place to Unplug.”

While the Meditation Space was scheduled to open in the Spring of 2020, the pandemic further prolonged the remodeling of the space, and Abdoalsadig graduated before she was ever able to use it. The final steps were completed in 2022 while Hasnain was MSU president and her along with other MSU board members unwaveringly checked on the space's progress, pushing the project to its completion. It remains a special place for Abdoalsadig, however, as she knows it touches the community she is so close to.

“I don’t feel like this is any one effort alone. This [problem] dates back ten years. I wanted to give credit where credit was due...we worked together to see this come to life,” Abdoalsadig said.

On May 23rd, 2022, a grand opening for the space was held giving out free succulents to the first 100 users of the space and hosting speeches from those involved in the process including a speech from Abdoalsadig who flew from the east coast to attend the event. Her parents, the 2022 MSU board members, and a UCI yoga club were also in attendance.

“I feel that we have a community here that works hard to uplift one another, and this space is a testament to that,” Aliza Hasnain said.

A year later, in June of 2023 when the days were warm and the anticipation of summer buzzed around campus, a journal was left in the Meditation Space atop one of the cubbies. Its owner is unknown, but students who used the space left messages behind, conveying how important the space had become to them. These are just a few:

"I just came here to stretch becoz I started zoning out while studying...a nice getaway...Good luck with finals I'm outta here after this quarter."

"I came here because my roomate forced me, but its nice. Jesus loves you all!"

"I came here to watch my friend pray!"

"I'm emotional reading all of these heartfelt notes because this notebook and this meditation space are just a few examples of how the Muslims at UCI have created such a unique, blossoming, liminal space and community."

"Thank you to everyone who gave me some of the best memories of my life!"

"I took a nap in here after studying all night. I hope I was not intruding on anyone's prayer space."

"This room has so many memories <3."

It is clear that Abdoalsadig's passion project became a lasting UCI legacy, impacting the future of many students to come. She advocates for students to continue sparking change on UCI's campus.

"This is the first stage, let's work to make it better. I always envisioned this place with bean bags, couches and coloring books," she said.

MSUers have populated the space with books of their own: a Quran, and small folds of paper with arabic writings. Members complain that there is nowhere for them to store their prayer mats, some reaching up to 10 feet long for Friday prayers, emphasizing the need for a return of an Interfaith Center or alternative spaces accessible to faith based clubs on campus.

The Student Center reinforces the non-denominational nature of the space and while it is an excellent space for personal daily prayer, its intention was never meant for large scale religious congregation and sermon. Because the space can not be reserved and functions on a first come first served basis, in order for the space to preserve its integrity and remain welcoming for all students, it must be advertised and maintained as such.

Currently the Student Center does not advertise the space on any social media platforms and though it appears on the UCI website, it remains a mystery to many students on campus who could benefit from it.

"We have an impending need to address the mental health crisis that students are facing on campus. Having this Meditation Space creates a safe space for students to momentarily step aside and to decompress.... This is only the beginning, I hope to see UCI continually being at the forefront of prioritizing the mental health of their students and I hope that this motivates students to be the voices of change and to advocate for their needs in making change on campus."