Another question about CAT

I'm new here, I've had many lucid dreams before naturally but only recently started actively trying to have them more often (I used to average about 1 lucid or semi-lucid dream a month).

Do you have to follow the CAT schedule exactly, waking up early for a full week? I adjust to different awakening times very quickly, probably about 1 hour earlier after 3 days and I won't even need an alarm. I think that if I followed it exactly I wouldn't be able to stay asleep on the sleep in days.

This doesn't really have to do with CAT but...
Whats the best RC method? I've been doing the one where you hold your nose and breath through it, but that makes me feel like I'm in two places at once and I wake up shortly after. I've also tried pinching myself, but I don't really trust it when I'm dreaming.

Hey, welcome to DV.

I'm not sure what CAT is. If you could provide a link to what you're talking about, that'd be great.

As for the "best" RC method: there really isn't one. For me, the nose pinch RC works wonders and is my "best" RC, but apparently, for you, it doesn't work quite as well. Now, there's also looking at digital clocks, poking your finger through your hand, using some TK, and myriad of other RCs. However, no one really pinches themselves.

You see, pain exists in dreams. So, pinching yourself isn't really the best way to see if you're dreaming.

CAT = Cycle Adjustment Technique

From wikipedia: "The cycle adjustment technique, developed by Daniel Love, is an effective way to induce lucid dreaming. It involves adjusting one's sleep cycle to encourage awareness during the latter part of the sleep. First, the person spends one week waking up 90 minutes before normal wake time until their sleep cycle begins to adjust. After this cycle adjustment phase, the normal wake times and early wake times alternate daily. On the days with the normal wake times, the body is ready to wake up, and this increases alertness, making lucidity more likely."

So you wake up an hour and a half early for a week although I would suggest a little longer to be sure, then you alternate the days in which you wake up early, and sleep in. You are more likely to be lucid on the sleep in days. Essentially training from sleep cycles to increase the amount of awareness towards the end. Fairly simple stuff, you might want to play around with the timing, and perhaps mix in some WBTB with it.

As for RC methods, a great one i've seen is a blindfold. Make sure its compfy. That way any time you wake up in a room and you can see, or any time you can see at all after going to bed, means you must be asleep. You don't even have to move, increasing the chances of catching some SP.

Pain rarely exists in my dreams but even when I pinch myself and it doesn't hurt I don't trust it

I guess I'll have to look up another RC method

Good RC methods include:

Looking at your hands - hands often appear different in dreams
Holding your nose and trying to breathe through it - obviously, if you can, you're dreaming
Looking at text or a clock, looking away, and then looking back at it - the text may change or be replaced by strange symbols
Trying to recall the last few places you've gone - if you can only recall "going to bed" you're probably dreaming.

Those are just the ones I've got off the top of my head. You should do these throughout the day so that possibly you'll remember to in your dreams. Honestly, it's never really worked for me, but it has for a lot of people.