Thanks for sharing, Surya.  Your reply gave me plenty to think about, especially in terms of how students may approach practice in different ways.

For myself, working with the subtle body was always hard.  Even in dreams, the few that I do recall, I am more oriented to myself as a mind than as a subtle body or subtle form or subtle person. And I have not learned how to control the subtle body in dreams.   When I began Theravada Buddhist meditation, I was immediately comfortable tackling the mind directly.  I actually exercise the most control while meditating.  It probably depends on the evolutionary disposition.   

In meditation, I've had a handful of times where I became isolated from whatever bodies there may be.  Those events are profound and have become guideposts in my practice. There still remains the issue of developing that consciousness.  I feel a lot of it depends on genuine disenchantment which sometimes leads to utter seriousness.  For me, that's when a meditation can really break boundaries.

Also, I feel much depends on where one has natural faith or confidence.  Since I've never had confidence in the subtle body and never became skilled in dream awareness and astral travel, I don't have the same confidence in the subtle body as you expressed.  Thank goodness there are various ways and means to progress!

One thing I'd like to mention, which is veering off point somewhat, is those times of awareness, when one is acutely in tune with suffering, and feels the existential anguish or fear at the core of the heart.  It's as if there is no body at all, but the heart exists and one sees directly into the knots of fear, desire, and attachment  that keep one bound.  Usually I am distracted enough by worldly, outwardly scenarios that I do not have the clear insight into suffering.  That is a problem, because until we know the traps of the heart, and are aware of death as a constant companion,  all our philosophies and professions and even our practice, will only be scratching the surface  and not penetrating deeply.  

Good luck to you!  May the Paths we tread  lead to liberation and the Supreme Peace.