i completed a 10day S.N Goenka retreat some time back

during the sixth/seventh day, i felt a sharp pain in the centre of my chest which quickly passed onto the left side where near the arm/torso joint. along with intense memories which were passing in my mind.

my skin has become very sensitive in this area since. and there is this constant pressure near the the chest side.


the pain/pressure feels more muscular in nature, which usually builds up towards the later half of the day

i have had an ecg and 2d echo test done both of which were normal.

this has started in the retreat and has since been there.

any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated

Keep going, unless it's too painful. I would bet good money that that pain is repressed emotion(s).

Three things, though:

1- To do this with a good therapist will probably be better.

2- Check the quality of your equanimity, i.e., sometimes equanimity can be used to "fight" against a sensation/feeling, instead of investigating it. The proper attitude is intentional and honest investigation.

3- Get ready for some painful emotions.

I've experienced almost exactly this from the Goenka technique and agree with Blue Jay here. In my experience this is what Goenka calls a "sankhara" coming to the surface. When I kept doing the technique, observing objectively, these painful feelings continued to travel down my arm (in my case my right arm) and exited the nervous system in the form of strong vibrations and tingling in the hand and fingers. My experience mostly centered around anxiety and anxious feelings in the chest (which became painful as they moved through the body), but it's also occurred for the tension that occurs sometimes in the chest by observing the breath without interfering with it.

On the other hand, I've found that these "sankharas" tend to get submerged again as the intense sensitivity from the retreat wears off. So if you stop practicing, the pressure, sensitivity, etc. should go away after some time.

Note that, if this is what it is, it's a good thing. Get that shit out of your system! This is the process of "purification" at work. But you have to do the technique very carefully, following the instructions.

There is some good advice in this thread. I don't want to confuse you by getting into too many details. Just some quick points...

For temporary relief getting exercise, particularly heavy weight lifting may help. Also google Trauma release exercises and try them.

Also very important is do not grasp at these sensations as your 'self'. Look up eckhart tolle's 'pain body', for one possible mental attitude to take towards them.

Here is an interesting thread about this and Goenka practice. The heart/chest area and it´s importance in vipassana
Google ---> site:http://www.dharmaoverground.org chest pain
heart pain
etc....
Some good stuff...just hard to find sometimes. Come back and link to the threads you found useful so others can find the same stuff that helped you.
Good luck,
~D