Here’s what he had to say about what lucid dreams are, what they feel like, and if it’s possible (or even safe) to guide your body into having more of them. Indeed, some lucid dreamers are able to manipulate things in their dreams, from the environment, and even characters in the dream. Other people, however, may not be able to influence the dream, and only have an awareness that they’re dreaming. There is also a connection to genetics, as research has found people with a family history of the narcolepsy gene1 are more likely to be lucid dreamers. Another way of approaching this is with the wake-back-to-bed technique, where you set the alarm to wake you up two hours before you normally would. When you wake up, you stay up for 15 or 30 minutes, and you think or read about lucid dreaming. Then as you fall back asleep, remind yourself that in your next dream you’ll realize you’re dreaming. I also developed a technique after reading Carlos Castaneda’s seminal book, Journey to Ixtlan, that I call the “Modified Castaneda” technique. Here’s how it works:
