I've been experiencing something recently and I don't really know what to do next.

Here's what going on, sometimes I feel some kind of heat in my chest.
- the amount of heat is similar to what you'd get if you would rub your hands vigourosly for a while.
- the sensations arise when I'm sitting (the position is not important), sometimes I can tune into it also when walking, but usually it fades away pretty fast.
- I'm not really trying to focus on something specific, just watching my breath (rise and fall).
- there seem to be different levels of it, ranging from barely noticeable, steady flow, almost uncomfortable and starting to spread to the lower abdomen
- I used to sweat when doing focussed concentration on my abdomen and also mixing in visualization, but this is another kind of heat (no sweat)


does this sound familiar to anyone ?
should I continue watching the breath and the body sensations related to it or should I switch to the heat ?

I have experienced heat sometimes, not in an extreme intensity, but I felt like my body was an oven radiating the heat outside and I started sweating.
When I tuned into the feeling and in its vibrations, it passed after ~15 min. (but still returned in every sit for a week or two).
Metaphorically it felt like something burning and leaving the body.
Anyway, it was never above the level of sitting in the sauna and enduring the body sensations. So I can't give you any advice for the extreme variation of it ;)

Vadim:

Try both.  They may reveal different perceptual mechanics.

Yeah. There was this woman......

why do you even bother repplying if you don't know the feeling/sensation ?

Why do you even bother getting out of bed if you haven't got a sense of humour ?

Vadim Rihlea,

I've experienced things like what you describe and more. At a couple of sits it was volcanic in heat and intensity. These experiences scared me off sitting for a bit. It was a mistake to quit; even for a day. All I could do was continue to practice sitting and just let things happen until it all waned. There are still times it begins to build up inside, but not focusing on it lessens it until its gone. I am loathe to give any advice because what works for one or some, doesn't always work for others. Those experiences changed things though. For the better in this lifetime for me. They call it kundalini and other names. Chi, your Chakras, etc. Just know that it can be dealt with by not fighting what is at the present moment during meditation.

Peace

sorry that I don't appreciate your sense of humour


I was doing the opposite thing, trying to enhance the sensation by focussing on "it", but it faded away after a while. Now that I think back, it's not that much of an event

thanks for sharing

http://www.dancingmountains.org.uk/newsletter/issue-25-Joy-and-Jhanas.ghtml

Susan is hot for Leigh
Whenever I'm with you
Something inside
Starts to burn deep
And my heart's filled with fire
Could be that I'm very sentimental
Or is this just the way love's supposed to be?I got a heat wave
Burning in my heart
I can't keep from crying
Tearing me apart

Read more: Martha And The Vandellas - Heatwave Lyrics | MetroLyrics

https://www.lionsroar.com/entering-the-jhanas/

Don, like this ?

http://theartofmeditation.org/fire-kasina-and-the-grounds-for-samadhi/

To Stick Man,

No, not quite. Almost. It was a heat of intensity that felt like flowing lava, then the heat of the sun. It was more internal heat than has EVER been felt. The first time it built up, then it flowed up and out through the top of the head in what felt like a volcanic eruption. There's more to this 1st time but enough for now.

Do you think this is the same heat Martha sang about ? Heat can be experienced in a few different ways, but I've felt heat in meditation and it seems pretty much to be the same emotional warmth I feel in relatinship with people. So I assume that it is the same feeling, albeit found in a different way. Or is it different ? Could it be said that relating to some people in a warm way just means being in a meditative state with them ? Why would one way be less valid, in a spiritual sense, than another ?

What I'm reading on jhanas says that heat is one of the manifestations of piti. Piti seems a bit of a broad term if it encompasses several different types of feeling so I wonder if there are mor refined terms for the different types of piti ?

(Brasington speculates that piti is dopamine breaking down into norepineprhine, which produces heat, and sukha is opiod)

[edit] bit more for fun

Stick Man,
Too bad the heat index wasn't like the emotional warmth you describe experiencing. It was like a friggin' volcano or the surface of the sun! Seriously. This scared me off sitting meditation, for about 2 weeks. Plus, this had happened a few times before, but it was not known then what it was. I was not meditating when the first 2 times happened. I had absolutely no idea what happened. This really freaked me out. It almost derailed the entire meditation effort completely when meditation was started and this happened again.
So yes, what this Teresa of Jesus describes is close to what the experiences were like in intensity. If that was, is, piti then its more than has ever been experienced before or since.

It sounds super intense. I may understand how that feels, because when I had a super A&P event of the dissolving type, it got to the point where I was afraid it would kill me, and that pretty much ended it if I remember right. Years later I can see how that was a fear reaction to unacustomed depths of my own nature. That wasn't a hot experience, it was more the cool electrical type of orgasmic piti. I've heard similar things about sex & coke. But the warm aspect, I can see how that might also get so much it becomes frightening.
I agree with the person who wrote the fire kasina peice, that this heat can be emotionally healing. So I don't think jhanas are something to be, always, regarded with suspicion because they can be an object of craving, I think they have real uses.

Stick Man,
Having those experiences with the intense heat was something never encountered before. Unfortunately they were not isolated events. There was a time just last year where the entire torso was hot to the touch. On and off for 2 weeks. It all stopped as suddenly as it started. Even the children could feel the heat coming from the torso through shirts. Lol, no, there were no medical issues. It was very strange. So, for some reason, there have been many experiences with this intense heat. It has never harmed the body, so far. Its not expected to do so either. Just another mystery

Didn't think it would be physical heat too....

Catherine of Siena -

Stick Man,
Don't know about others or their experiences but the experiences here were physical. Very physical. Like being cooked from the inside out. Except it wasn't that literal. Just really felt like it. Even to the touch. Also, for some reason it seemed as though the thoughts at those times, after starting meditation, were along the lines of these fires burning out impurities. That was way before reading Buddhist literature. So there was no knowledge of Buddha teaching about the goldsmith burning out the impurities. For some reason, experiences were ahead of reading to know and understand what was happening. It was like the cart was in front of the horse. Things were happening fast. It forced me to read more to understand. But there are no claims here. Still learning.

Hey thanks.

tummo

Gonna roll you over and rub your tummo