2nd lucid, but stabilization failed.

I had my second lucid 2 nights ago. There may have been more to the dream than I recall, but I remember a false awakening. I performed the nose pinch RC and became lucid at that point, but was almost as if I could not stop breathing while doing the RC. I started to breathe heavily, making damn sure that it was a dream. Then I rubbed my hands together, which for some reason caused everything to fade. I awoke after that. I've read some threads about dream spinning and rubbing of hands, and many say those stabilization techniques rarely work. Anyone have any more effective techniques?

Hi, first off congratulations on your second lucid dream. I've found that often poeple get too bogged down in performing a particular action or movement in order to stabalise a dream and forget the prupose and reason why they're doing it in the first place. The whole point is to give your mind a calm focus, the action is just the trigger to instruct your mind on what you want it to do, in this case stabalise the dream after the adrenaline rush form the excitement of becoming lucid (the whole dream environment is created by and controlled by your mind after all, not just your dream body).

Take a moment to relax, I find just a few deep breaths helps, then just spend a moment looking around and taking in the dreamscape before you, deliberately notice a few features and details. As you relax and become aware of your situation the dream environment will stabalise and then you can begin to explore it.