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When performing the variations of the techniques, a practitioner can begin to vacillate between full alertness and complete asleep, coming to, and then nodding off again. To avoid falling asleep requires a strong desire to return to wakefulness. This is accomplished by a strong resolve on the part of the practitioner, even if, while performing a direct technique, drifting in and out of sleep occurs. The practitioner must firmly assert that at the moment consciousness tapers off, awakening will immediately occur.
On the other hand, if lapses do not occur, and are replaced by complete alertness, the following tricks of the trade may help: full concentration on mental actions or, conversely, musing and daydreaming in parallel with the technique being used. It should be noted that these are only effective at the initial stages of working with direct techniques since such techniques have a strong sleep-inducing effect. If direct techniques do not lead to light sleep or singular lapses after a long period of regular practice, then it must be assumed that the practitioner is dealing with some appreciable error in technique or in the length of performance. The number of lapses that occur may be regulated by body position during practice or by changing the variation used while performing techniques.