When trying to discern whether or not a lucid dream is intact, judgment is based on similarity to the departed physical environment. In lucid dreaming, physical attributes are simulations.

Hyper-concentrating on an object for too short a time while trying to determine whether the surroundings are in lucid dreaming or in the physical world.

Deliberately attempting to end lucid dreaming prematurely when the entire natural length of lucid dreaming should be taken advantage of.

Panic in case of paralysis instead of calm, relaxed action.

Refusal to practice lucid dreaming because of fear, though this problem is temporary and resolvable.

Opening the eyes at the initial stages of lucid dreaming, since this frequently leads to a foul.

Premature attempts to create vision in lucid dreaming, whereas separating from the body and deepening should occur.

Excessive haste while creating vision, as in the majority of cases vision appears naturally.

While concentrating on the hands to create vision, doing so at an excessive distance versus the recommended four to six inches.

Forgetting about the techniques for “maintaining” while in contact with living objects.

Forgetting to shut the eyes or defocus vision when translocating through walls or other solid objects.

Desiring to do something superhuman in lucid dreaming without the required internal desire and confidence.

Fear of experiencing pain in lucid dreaming instead of learning to control it.

Observing moral standards in lucid dreaming when they do not apply.

A tendency to immediately use lucid dreaming for something practical instead of first thoroughly exploring and interacting with the surroundings.

Anchor technique

During wakefulness, the practitioner develops the habit of analyzing his state whenever he encounters specific anchors: his hands, the sound of water, people’s faces, etc. This practice will gradually transition over into dreaming, giving him a chance to react to an anchor and realize that everything around him is a dream. An anchor should be something encountered neither rarely nor frequently both when dreaming and during wakefulness. In order to get a clearer understanding of whether one is surrounded by reality or the dreamscape, one should try to levitate or go into hyperconcentration whenever an anchor is encountered.

Dream memory development technique

The practitioner recalls all of his latest dreams both in the morning and in the evening. For more solid results, one should keep a dream journal and try to enter as many dream episodes into it as possible. The more dreams that the practitioner remembers, the more vivid future ones will become, and the more frequently he will become conscious during them.

Technique of dream map-making

Here, the practitioner not only keeps a dream journal, but also tries to mark all of the places he dreamt he was in on a special map. The main goal is to create an integrated plane where dream places merge together into a unified world.

Technique of dream analysis

Whenever performing dream analysis, be it mentally or when keeping a dream journal, lucid dreamingr should take as critical a stance as possible towards the logical inconsistencies that go unnoticed while dreaming, as they can serve as a clear marker that one is in a dream. Such critical awareness will gradually work its way into one’s dreams, enabling one to turn dreams into lucid dreaming. This technique is especially effective when analyzing dreams immediately upon awakening.

I was in my bed imagining that I was leaving my body and soon I felt that I was pulled by someone out of my body. I decided not to resist it though the vibrations were strong and frightened me a little. And in less than no time I found myself standing on the floor out of my body. The room was luminous with sunlight. I felt free and extremely happy, as if I got rid of something unnecessary which always troubled me.

My new body had no legs but there was no need in them (M.R.: no deepening). And I had thought that it was necessary to bring something from the other room as the fact confirming that I was in Astral (M.R.: wrong logic and no plan of action). I flounced out of the room, seized a bag and brought it to my bedroom. (In the morning the bag was in its former place again).

Then I watched something strange: my new bed and room existed simultaneously with my old bed and room. Everything had mixed up and I hastened to return to my body. I saw my body lying in my bed and became suddenly very upset. I thought: “How such a young soul can return to such an "old" body?”. Then, I felt a pity to myself and I tried to join my body (M.R.: wrong action), but did not manage it. Fear overwhelmed me.

At once I recollected, that I had read somewhere that one should make a turnabout to join his body. I did so and soon found myself in my physical body.

Moscow, Russia

We were already a bit stressed out on the night that it happened, because we had to wake up very early the next day in order to go on an excursion. We were afraid that we’d oversleep. I had woken up several times over the course of the night, and finally decided to use the nocturnal awakenings to enter lucid dreaming.

I successfully "exited the body", and stood up on the pull-out bed (M.R.: no deepening). I was in the same room that I had fallen asleep in, but discovered that there were two mirrors on the wall that weren’t there in real life. Peering into one of the mirrors, I noticed that I wasn’t wearing the same clothes that I had fallen asleep in. I then recalled my "idee fixe" – to whisk my boyfriend into my own lucid dreaming experience. I went over to the couch he was sleeping on, pulled him up by the arm, and took him up to the mirror. I was then thinking, "So maybe he’ll see himself in the mirror and become conscious while in my lucid dreaming?"

We stood in front of the mirror, and I saw our reflections diffusing. I figured that I had been unsuccessful once again, and so I let him go. But I resolved to crawl into the mirror myself in order to translocate. I got up onto the table, put my hand into the mirror, and started moving in head-first. I suddenly realized that the mirror was "closed" – that there was nothing but darkness and a wall behind it, and thus I wouldn’t be able to translocate anywhere. I then opted to employ the technique of "rotation". I started turning and imagining a favorite birch-tree forest from one of my travels in lucid dreaming. I really wanted to go there again.

I turned and turned, but could not enter into the forest, even thought it was vividly flashing before my eyes. I was unable to come to a halt in time. In the end, I landed in my mother’s apartment. There was a toy stuffed rabbit lying on the floor. I took it by the hand, figuring that if I started to lose lucid dreaming, I would fiddle with it in order to stay in. Then, I saw another mirror on the wall, and decided to have a look at my reflection. I looked, but the reflection was not of me, but of some blurred creature, like a ghost. I even became somewhat frightened. That fear returned me back to the body (or so I thought while still in lucid dreaming), with the stuffed animal still in my hands.

I found myself back on my bed, but I didn’t give up there. I decided to try another way to get my boyfriend to join me in lucid dreaming (after all, it gets lonely walking around all alone there!). I grabbed his hands and started sliding out of bed. We actually fell off the bed, but did not land on the floor. It was as if we had fallen from a cliff, and were suspended in air. Even though it was dark in the room that we were sleeping in, there was daylight all around us during our fall. Everything was really bright, much brighter than in the experience that I had just had. I was sure that I had been successful in pulling him into lucid dreaming with me! But then I saw that the arms holding me were clearly not his. I lowered my eyes, and saw that I was embracing another man!

He looked somewhat like my boyfriend, but his face was more aged and a bit different, while his hair was longer and gathered in a ponytail. I push him away and asked, "Who are you?" And he responded, "Well, I’ve already told you my name. Or maybe you’re just seeing the future?" I calmed down a bit and told him, "I need a dress, I don’t want to run around half naked." He replied, "So let’s go buy one". I turned around, and saw a shop. We went in – actually, we hovered in about a foot off the ground. We were greeted by a mulatto shopkeeper, he showed me all the dresses hanging on the rack. I was in ecstasy! I stepped towards the rack… and instantly found myself back in my body (M.R.: no re-entering)!

What a shame, not to have been able to wear those cute dresses at least in lucid dreaming!

People often approach the practice of various lucid dreaming states with deep-rooted misconceptions about what can actually be achieved through practice. Everything listed in this section refers to these misconceptions. It has not been proven that any of these things is impossible; however, actions should be based on proven and verified methods in order to avoid making mistakes and wasting time.

Physical exit: If the first experience with lucid dreaming phenomenon happens by accident, it is almost impossible not to interpret it as a real separation of the soul from the body – a physical exit. This is how the initial lucid dreaming experience really feels. With experience it becomes easily noticeable that certain things in reality do not match things in lucid dreaming, like the placement of objects or furniture in the house where a lucid dream is first encountered.

No actual physical exit from the body has ever been proven through scientific experimentation and observation. For example, in lucid dreaming, it is not possible to fly around to locations in physical world, although it may seem so; the locations that are experienced are produced within the mind. Nor is it possible to pinch someone in lucid dreaming and then to find a bruise on the person while in reality.

Other worlds: lucid dreaming space is similar to the physical world, and a practitioner may be inclined to think that the soul has left the body. Sometimes lucid dreaming takes on an absolutely unnatural form. As a result, the practitioner may decide that a parallel world has been entered: the world beyond, the astral plane, mental space, or the ether. Although travel in lucid dreaming can lead to many places, this does not mean that lucid dreaming allows travel through or use of actual, alternate worlds. The practitioner should be reasonable.

Development of super-abilities: It is partially correct to consider the practice of lucid dreaming as an extrasensory ability since it is an actual development of extremely unusual skills that have always been considered mystical. Times have changed, and lucid dreaming should hardly be shuttled off to the esoteric, obscure corners of knowledge.

There exists an unproven theory that the practice of lucid dreaming can impart unusual abilities. While literature is full of references to this effect, these abilities have not yet been proven by anyone. The same applies to intentionally developing unusual abilities in lucid dreaming. Yes, these may be trained while in lucid dreaming, but this does not mean that training in lucid dreaming will yield the same results in the real world. Practice should not be for the sake of achieving super-abilities since there are many proven applications that do translate to reality in valuable ways. Be realistic.