meditation and my heart (a practice note)

On retreat recently I began to feel that my heart was beating in my chest with increased force. At first I thought this might just be an increased awareness of the normal beating, but I have become convinced that there is a physical change. When I lay on my back I can feel myself being lifted off the bed by each heartbeat. I have also only been sleeping about 5hrs/ night and dont feel tired at all (unusual for me). This sounds like an A&P phenomenon, and indeed I am tending to experience rapture these days, however I have also been cycling without any change in the heart pounding. Also, I have been off retreat for several days now and this continues, perhaps with increased magnitude.
Last night I began to feel a burning sensation in my chest, so I went to the ER to make sure that my heart wasnt about to give out. They found nothing. Neither any reason for immediate concern, nor any explanation of what was going on. Today I talked with a friend of mine who is a doctor and has a decent understanding of meditative experience. He assured me that there is nothing to be alarmed about. He thinks this is probably a healing reaction resulting from some kind of released vitality.
Toward the end of my retreat this past summer also I began to develop a similar heart pounding, but that went away quickly once I was off retreat.
Any perspectives from this quarter? Has anyone else had similar?
-Sol

Hi Solxyz,

I know of at least two other yogis who have gone to the doctor to get checked for odd heart-related symptoms that they suspected might be related to their meditation practice. In both cases, as in your case, the yogis received a clean bill of health and concluded that the new awareness of the heart was indeed meditation-related.

Still, I always recommend that people get checked if they have concerns about something as serious as the heart, so I'm glad you went to the doc. The last thing we want is for people to ignore potentially serious symptoms and drop dead just as they are at the very doorstep of enlightenment.