The feeling of warmth began to increase...and go deeper inside my chest...it eventually went all the way to my heart...becoming a pin point of very intense heat that then exploded throughout my whole body...
This seems to be a physiological reaction to a deep state of meditation. I saw a documentary on Tibetan monks regarding this phenomenan and also described in an MSNBC article, part of which is pasted below:
Tibetan medicine gains favor in the West
By Janet E. Ziegler
MSNBC, Oct. 1 - 1999WASHINGTON — Some Tibetan Buddhist monks have their own way of dealing with cold weather. Those who practice a system of meditation known as “tummo” or “inner fire” are able to raise their temperature so effectively they can spend the night on a snowy mountain ledge wrapped in nothing but a thin shawl, and emerge in the morning in full health.
THE MONKS also test their skills by sitting in 40-degree rooms wrapped in wet sheets. As the monks raise their body heat, the moisture evaporates from the fabric and steam rises into the cold air. The one who dries the most sheets by body heat alone wins.
For the Tibetans, the real goal of the meditation is not just to warm up; it is to burn away dark energies and refresh the inner self. At the moment they release the heat, the monks report feeling bliss.
I've been able to generate a feeling of heat through my limbs and abdomen and up to my throat when meditating; it's a very different feeling from what I described in my earlier post on my late father, but intriguing nonetheless.