Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Ven Pende Hawter guides a 60-minute guided relaxation and visualization session designed to reduce physical and mental tension. He begins by establishing a comfortable posture and settling the mind through breath awareness, then systematically scans the body from feet to head, identifying and releasing areas of tightness. He offers two approaches: gentle letting-go and deliberate tensing-and-releasing, encouraging practitioners to find what works best. After achieving deep physical relaxation, he regrounds attention on the breath, using counting or verbal anchors to maintain focus. The second half introduces a white-light visualization: imagining a brilliant sphere of healing light descending into the heart center and radiating throughout the body, dissolving tension, pain, worry, and fatigue while restoring health and inner strength. He emphasizes that regular daily practice—ideally twice daily—deepens these effects over weeks and months, and notes that visualization enhances other medical treatments. Suitable for anyone seeking accessible mind-body relaxation, whether managing stress or supporting healing.
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File: Relaxation and White Light.mp3
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Teacher: Ven Pende Hawter
Collection: Relaxation and White Light (Ven Pende Hawter)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 60.6 minutes
Words: ~3,992
So to begin the relaxation, just make sure that the body is in a comfortable position. This can be either in the lying position with the head and neck supported, or you can do it in the sitting position, either sitting in a chair or sitting cross legged or on the floor or kneeling on a stool. Just whatever position you find comfortable. Just making sure that you can find a place where you’re not likely to be disturbed, where you can just allow yourself to be still and relaxed for the next twenty minutes or so. It’s good during the relaxation to try and keep the body fairly still because if the body is still, then the mind also tends to be still.
But if you do get uncomfortable during the relaxation, then just quietly move to a more comfortable position. In this process of relaxation, we’ll just be going through the body part by part to look for any areas of tension or tightness in the body and letting go of those feelings of tightness or tension. And then we’ll also be doing some mindfulness of the breathing to help to slow down the mind and help relax the mind. So just to help to begin the relaxation, we can just focus our attention on the breathing. So just becoming aware of that ingoing and outgoing of the breath at the level of the nostrils, just simply following the breath with the mind.
Just breathing in, breathing out and being aware of that gentle rhythm and flow of the breath. Just breathing normally, naturally, quietly but being aware of that movement of the breath inwards and outwards. No need to force the breath or exaggerate the breath, but just simply being aware of the normal breath. Just leaving behind the activity and noise and problems and hassles of the day and turning the mind inwards onto that breathing process, onto the relaxation process. Just simply being aware of that movement of the breath inwards and outwards and letting go of the thoughts as they arise in the mind.
Just allowing them to dissolve away and keeping the mind focused on the breathing. Just be aware of the in breath, the out breath and being aware of where the one changes into the other. The in breath becomes the out breath, the out breath becomes the in breath. And just to help to control and calm the mind, just keep the mind focused on the breathing for a count of eleven breaths. Just mentally counting up to eleven breaths.
Just allowing the mind to become still and calm and quiet as you let go of those thoughts, as you keep the awareness on the breathing. Just bringing your full awareness into the relaxation process, turning the mind inwards onto the relaxation, leaving behind all of the external noises and problems. So now with the mind more settled, more quiet, we can move on to the physical part of the relaxation. Just checking through the body to look for any areas of tension, tightness, discomfort, aches and pains. Firstly we just check the area of the legs and the feet.
Checking carefully through the legs and the feet for any feelings of tightness, tension, discomfort. And if you become aware of any of those feelings, just let them go, allow them to dissolve away into space and allow the area of the legs and the feet to become completely relaxed and still, free of tension, free of tightness, free of discomfort. Just allowing the legs and the feet to relax completely as you let go of that tension. So then now just checking up through the area of the low back and stomach and around the pelvis. Again just checking here for any feelings of tightness, tension, discomfort.
And as you identify those areas of tension or discomfort just let them go. Let them dissolve away from the body and just allow that whole area through the low back pelvis to become completely relaxed, completely still, free of all form of tension, tightness, discomfort. Just allow it to relax completely. Then just checking up through the area of the chest and the area between the shoulder blades. Again looking here for any of those feelings of tension, tightness, discomfort.
Being aware of any feelings of tightness or palpitations in the chest, any feeling of rapid breathing, rapid heart rate, any discomfort, any tension. As you become aware of those feelings through the chest, just let them go, let them dissolve away. Allow that whole area through the chest to become completely still, relaxed, free of tension, free of discomfort. Just allowing yourself more and more to let go into the relaxation, into the stillness. Allow the whole body to gradually become more relaxed, more still.
Not being afraid to let go of the tension. Just simply relaxing and letting go completely. Just allowing the whole body from head to toe to completely let go into the relaxation. Just allowing that relaxation to surround you, nourish you, protect you. So now just checking down through the arms and the hands, And again just letting go completely of any feelings of tightness, tension, discomfort that you may discover in the arms and the hands.
And as you do so you may become aware of a feeling of warmth and tingling coming down into the hands as circulation improves down the arms. Just allow the arms and the hands to be completely relaxed, completely still. Then checking out through the area of the neck and the tops of the shoulders, Paying particular attention to this area because this is one of the first places in the body where tension develops. And it’s very easy to develop a build up of tension in this area. This is often the cause of stiffness and pain in the neck, it’s a very common cause of headaches and can also cause pain across the shoulders and down the arms.
Just checking this area very carefully, looking for any feelings of tightness, tension, discomfort, and as you discover those feelings again just let them go, let them drop away from the body, let them dissolve away into space and allow that whole area of the neck and the shoulders to become completely relaxed, completely still, without any trace of tension, tightness, discomfort. Just letting go completely around the neck and the shoulders. Then finally checking up around the area of the face and scalp, allowing the forehead to become smooth, free of tension, allowing the eyes to relax to the point where they are nearly closed. Allowing the jaws to relax with the teeth slightly apart. Just completely letting go of all tightness, all tension, all discomfort from around the face and scalp.
So the whole face feels very light, very smooth, completely free of tension. Completely letting go of every trace of tension around the face and scalp. Often when we feel that we may be relaxed, if we check carefully, we discover that the eyes are being held tightly, the teeth are being clenched together. So it’s important always when you’re doing the relaxation to make sure that you are relaxed around the face. So now just allowing the whole body from head to toe to be completely relaxed, completely still, without any trace of tension, tightness, discomfort.
Just letting go completely into that relaxation without holding onto any of the tension, any of the tightness. The whole body from head to toe completely still, completely relaxed. Allowing yourself to dissolve completely into that relaxation as much as possible. Just letting go as much as possible into that relaxation. And just enjoying that feeling of being still, being quiet, being relaxed.
Such a simple pleasure and yet one which we so seldom allow ourselves. This is a very natural healthy state of the body. A state in which the body can replenish itself and the body is most strong, most healthy. So it’s so valuable to go through this process of physical relaxation. Just enjoying that feeling of being still, of being quiet, completely letting go into the relaxation.
Another method of doing the physical relaxation is as you relax each body part, firstly you can tense up that particular part of the body as much as possible to exaggerate the tension and then you let go completely of the tension in that part of the body. If you have a lot of tension in particular parts of the body, this method can be very helpful to help to let go of the tension. You may want to start with this method and then progress onto the letting go method without doing the tensing up part of it. Just whichever method you find most helpful to relax. So now while keeping the body as relaxed as possible again, bring the mind back to the breathing.
Once more just becoming aware of that ingoing and outgoing of the breath at the level of the nostrils. Breathing in, breathing out, and being aware of that gentle rhythm and flow of the breath. As the thoughts come into the mind, as the mind wanders off the breath, just gently bring it back to the breath each time. Not forcing or struggling with it too much, but just gently bringing it back. To help keep the mind on the breath, can be very helpful to count the breath, perhaps in batches of ten breaths.
Just counting up to ten breaths, And when you get to ten, go back to one and start again. If you lose count, then again, go back to one and start again. So now just try that method of counting the breath just for a minute or two. Just keeping the mind on the breath, bringing it back again and again. It can also be very helpful to keep the mind on the breath by using some particular words in time with the breath, such as saying to yourself breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out.
Or perhaps let go, let go in time with the breathing. This also is a very helpful way of keeping the mind on the breath. So you can experiment with these different methods, just using whichever method helps you to keep the mind on the breath. This method of keeping the mind on the breath, although extremely simple, is a very profound method to one used by a lot of the Eastern yogis And with practice it can lead to very deep states of relaxation. The whole secret of learning to relax is to practice the relaxation regularly, doing the relaxation at least once every day and preferably twice a day, making it part of the daily routine.
Just not going through a day without doing the relaxation. If you can have this attitude towards the relaxation and do it on a regular basis, And over a period of time, a period of weeks, months, then the effects of the relaxation will really start to be apparent and you’ll just become more relaxed more of the time. You’ll find that the relaxation will start to pervade all of your daily activities and you’ll find it easy to cope with the problems and hassles that occur every day. So this method of relaxation, although it’s very simple, just going through the body part by part, relaxing the body completely, and then bringing the awareness to the breathing. Although it’s a very simple process, if you do it regularly it will be extremely effective and will really help you to become more relaxed more of the time.
But the whole secret is the perseverance, not to be discouraged if you have periods where you feel very tense, very uptight. But just having the perseverance, the faith that as time goes by, then you will become a more relaxed person. So now just in your own time, can slowly open your eyes, come back into awareness of the room, and then slowly sitting up, and we’ll finish the relaxation session there. So just making sure that the body is relaxed and comfortable. Arms and legs comfortably relaxed.
Hands and feet relaxed. Make sure that the head is resting comfortably on the pillow or if you’re doing the relaxation in the sitting position just make sure that the head is resting comfortably on the shoulders or against the back of the chair. Just immediately allowing the whole body to become relaxed, still, free of tension, free of tightness. Immediately allowing yourself to settle into the relaxation, turning the mind inwards onto the relaxation process. Gently closing the eyes to shut out any visual distractions or disturbances.
Just leaving behind whatever you’ve been doing, the activities, the noise, the busyness of the day, just leaving all that aside for the next few minutes as you do the relaxation. Just turning the mind inwards onto the relaxation process. Just allowing the body and mind to be still, to be calm. Then immediately just bringing the mind to the breath, just becoming aware of that ingoing and outgoing of the breath at the level of the nostrils. Breathing in, breathing out, and being aware of that gentle flow and rhythm of the breath.
Just breathing normally, naturally, easily, without forcing, without exaggerating. Just simply being aware of the normal breath. And as the thoughts arise in the mind, just let them go. And keep bringing the mind back to the breath. Just breathing in, breathing out, and being aware of that gentle flow and rhythm of the breath.
Being aware of nothing except the breath, allowing the mind to become oneness with the breath So the mind and the breath become inseparable. And as the mind stays on the breath, just allow the mind to become more calm, more still. Just be aware of the whole body and mind becoming more relaxed, more still, more calm, more peaceful, more quiet. Becoming aware of that stillness within you and the stillness around you as you keep the mind focused on the breathing. Totally centered on the breathing, on the relaxation.
The mind focused, relaxed, centered on the breathing, on the relaxation. Allowing all of the external noise, activities, problems, hassles, worries to dissolve away as you keep the mind on the breathing. So now would the mind more calm, more settled. We can just check through the body to look for any areas of tension or tightness. Just progressively checking through the body to make sure that the whole body from head to toe is completely relaxed, completely still.
So first we check through the area of the legs and the feet. Just checking through the legs and the feet for any areas that may be tense, tight, not relaxed. As you become aware of those areas of tension, tightness, discomfort, let go of those feelings of tension and discomfort and allow the legs and the feet to relax completely. Completely loose, completely relaxed, completely still. Then checking up through the area of the low back, stomach, pelvis.
Again just identifying any areas of tension, tightness, discomfort, aches or pains. And as you become aware of any of those feelings just let them drop away from the body, let them dissolve into space. Allow that whole area through the low back pelvis to become relaxed and still, free of tension, free of tightness. If you have particular areas of pain in the body and it’s hard to take your awareness away from that pain, just allow the sensation around that pain to relax, become less tight, less gripping and just try to soften around the pain. Not to let the pain dominate you but to try and soften around the pain, being aware of the pain but softening and relaxing and becoming more loose around the pain.
So now I’m just checking up through the area of the chest, the area between the shoulder blades. Checking here for any feelings of tension, tightness, constriction, palpitations, irregular breathing or heartbeat, any discomfort, pain. And as you become aware of those feelings, let them go, Let them dissolve away and allow that whole area through the chest to become relaxed and still and free of tension, free of discomfort, free of pain. Just let it go completely. Allow that whole area through the chest to be relaxed and still.
Just letting go more and more into the stillness, into the relaxation, into the quiet, allowing that feeling of relaxation to completely pervade the body, surround and protect the body, allowing the whole body to feel warm, relaxed and still. Now checking down through the arms and the hands. Again, letting go of any tension, any tightness, any discomfort through the arms and the hands, allowing them to relax completely, to be still. As you do so, you may be aware of a feeling of warmth and tingling coming down into the hands as the blood flow increases through the arms. Then checking up through the area of the neck and the tops of the shoulders, Checking very carefully around this area because it’s so easy for tension to build up in this area, causing pain and stiffness in the neck across the shoulders, sometimes referring pain up into the head, the face or into one or both arms and also into the area between the shoulder blades.
So if you have discomfort, tension, pain in any of these areas, Let it go, let it dissolve away, let it soften and allow that whole area through the neck and the shoulders to become completely relaxed and still and free of tension, free of tightness. Then checking out through the area of the face and the scalp, allowing the forehead to become smooth and relaxed. The eyes relaxed almost to the point where they close. The jaws relax with the teeth slightly apart, allowing the whole face to become completely smooth and relaxed and still, very light, very relaxed, free of tension, free of pain, free of all discomfort. Just allowing the whole body now from head to toe to feel completely still, completely relaxed.
Completely letting go into that relaxation, into that stillness, into that quietness. Just completely letting go as much as you can into the stillness, into the relaxation. Being aware of that stillness within you and around you completely pervading the whole body. So now while keeping the body completely relaxed, once more bring the mind back to the breathing, back to that gentle flow and rhythm of the breath inwards and outwards. Breathing in, breathing out, and being aware of that gentle flow and rhythm of the breath.
Letting go of the thoughts as they arise and bringing the mind back to the breathing each time that it wanders, allowing the mind to become still and quiet and calm. Breathing in, breathing out, and being aware of that gentle movement of the breath. If it helps, you can try counting the breath in batches of ten breaths Or just saying to yourself, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out, or some such similar words. Just feeling that stillness through the whole body and the whole mind. So now while keeping the body and mind relaxed, just above the crown of your head, visualize a small intense ball of brilliant white light.
Just in your mind’s eye, become aware of this ball of white light above the crown of your head. Very intense, very bright white light with the light shining out in all directions. The whole area around you being lit up by this intensely bright light. And now just imagine that that small intense ball of light slowly sinks down through the crown of your head, slowly descends down into the center of your chest. For the purpose of this visualization or this exercise just imagine that your whole body is hollow inside just surrounded by the skin.
Just like a hollow tube surrounded by the skin. By visualizing this way it helps to make the visualization more easy, more effective. So now just visualizing that small intense ball of white light in the center of the chest and the rays of light streaming out in all directions, going to all parts of the body. So the light going up into the head, traveling down through the arms, to the hands, traveling down through the trunk, into the legs, right down to the feet. So the whole body becomes completely filled with this very bright, warm, healing light.
Just imagine yourself glowing with this white light, the whole body illuminated with this white light, completely pervaded from head to toe with this very bright white light. And that warm healing light completely dissolves away all of the tension, all of the tightness, all of the aches and pains, any sickness in the body is completely dissolved away by that white light. If you have any particular parts of the body that tense or where there’s pain or some form of disease, just imagine those feelings, those symptoms being completely dissolved away by the white light. That particular part of the body is completely normal, completely healthy, vibrant with good health. So the whole body filled with this white light from head to toe, Completely dissolving away all the tension, the tiredness, all the aches and pains.
Also it completely dissolves away all of the worries, fears, anxieties, problems, hassles. All as well completely dissolved away. All of the mental problems completely dissolved away by the white light. So the whole body feels completely relaxed from head to toe, completely calm, peaceful, still, completely healthy. And this white healing light healing energy completely fills the body with energy, strength, health.
Just feel this energy, this stillness, this peacefulness pervading the whole body from head to toe. Letting yourself go into that feeling of energy and strength and health and stillness. Letting go completely into that feeling, seeing your body and mind in this way. All problems, tensions, all the aches and pains completely dissolved away. The whole body and mind feeling completely healthy, strong, energized.
Feeling that stillness within you and around you. Letting go completely into that feeling of peace and stillness and health. Feeling warm and peaceful, tranquil. Feeling like you have no worries, no cares, no physical problems whatsoever. Just nothing but stillness and peace, calmness, pervading your whole body and mind.
Letting go into that feeling as much as you can. Also recognizing that this healing energy, this healing light actually exists within you, exists within each one of us. Each one of us has this capacity to heal ourselves, to relax ourselves. We have this healing energy within us if we can just do the relaxation, do the visualization and get in touch with that inner process, that inner healing energy. And if we go through this process of relaxation and white light visualization on a regular basis then it can have a very beneficial profound effect on body and mind.
We can tap into inner healing resources that we didn’t know we had. And if we’re receiving different types of treatments for different sicknesses, medications or other sorts of treatment, then this form of relaxation and visualization enhances the other treatments that we’re receiving. It makes them more effective, more strong. So it works in perfectly with other forms of treatment also. It enhances, it strengthens other forms of treatment.
So now I just bring the awareness back to the breathing. Once more becoming aware of that ingoing and outgoing of the breath. Breathing in breathing out and being aware of that movement of the breath inwards and outwards. Now just in your own time slowly open your eyes, come back into awareness of the room, of your surroundings. Then slowly sitting up and we will finish the relaxation session there.