Sukshma

Sukshma Sarira
The physical body is shaped in accordance with the nature of the astral body. The physical body is something like water, Sthula form. When water is heated, the steam or vapour corresponds to the astral body.

The sukshma-dhyana is complicated to explain; complicated in the sense that one has to digest many of the doctrines of Hatha yoga before one can really grasp its significance.

Sukshma sharira
The subtle body, one of the three layers of the body
Svadhyaya ...

Te vyakta-sukshmah gunatmanah.
Te = they (properties, dharma); vyakta = manifest; sukshma = subtle, Unmanifest, dormant; gunatmanah = of the nature of Gunas.

Prana is Sukshma, subtle. By exercising control over this breathing you can control the subtle Prana inside. Control of Prana means control of mind. Mind cannot operate without the help of Prana.

Advanced or Subtle Energetic (Sukshma Sharira) Practice:
Another application of uddiyana bandha that is nontraditional, yet very palatable is to apply uddiyana bandha at the end of deep inhalation (puraka) drawing the energy into the heart/lung area.

It is the vital force, Sukshma. Breath is the external manifestation of Prana. By exercising control over this gross breath, you can control the subtle Prana inside. Control of Prana means control of mind.

Chakra ("wheel"): literally, the wheel of a wagon; metaphorically, one of the psycho-energetic centers of the subtle body (sukshma-sharira) where the subtle nerve channels converge like the spokes of a wheel.

Then comes the sukshma sharira, the subtle body, where the mind, consciousness, ego, manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara interact. You cannot see the subtle body but you can feel it.

The sukshma-sarira "bears to the physical body the same relationship which the astral world bears to the objective plane of the solar system. It is sometimes called kama-rupa in our theosophical dissertations.

Please note: Subtle Yoga can also refer to the Yogic Sukshma Vyayamaa exercises, since these exercises are meant for subtle body (sukshma sarira).

(pādas) within Tantric scriptures, The practices of mantra, āsana (seat/pose), sense-withdrawal (pratyāhāra), breath-regulation (prānāyāma), mental (mantric) fixation (dhāranā), meditation (dhyāna), mudrā, the subtle body (sukshma ...

See also: Subtle, Body, Energy, Yoga, Mind