Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum and to lucid dreaming in general; I had a look at a short guide on the internet about LD and gave it a go last night:
I lay on my back without moving, conciously trying to ignore any itches or impulses to move. Eventually I had a strange feeling of numbness and after a while my heart started beating really fast, which subsided after a short while. This experience repeated itself several times but unfortunately no LD occured.
Does anyone know what this experience was? Has anyone got any tips for me? 
Also, did other people on this forum use the LD4all guide to achieve lucidity? Or are there different methods?
Welcome to the forum
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
You’re supposed to feel that, you know?
Well, it depends on the level of numbness.
If your limbs just felt numb, it’s a state before SP (sleep paralysis).
If you were really numb and couldn’t move, then it was SP.
When this happens, just relax and continue doing nothing.
Don’t think about it, just continue whatever you were doing (counting, relaxing, breathing etc).
Sleep paralysis in most cases is a part if WILD.
So, it’s nothing unusual.
Everyone goes into sleep paralysis once they fall asleep.
This is just the case where it happens in waking life.
Good luck 
EDIT: Take a look at the forum on the top, called ‘‘knowledge base’’.
You will see most of the techniques there.
The techniques in the LD4ALL guide are pretty much the main ones. Really, the two major techs are MILD and WILD; but their are quite a few variations on each. Bascially a MILD type tech consists of using mantras/suggestion to tell yourself you will realize you are dreaming. In a MULD you become lucid during the dream. Any WILD based tech involves falling asleep while remaining conscious. Thus you’re lucid at all points in the dream because you stayed “awake”.
That numbness is typical and is a harbinger of SP. Complete SP is when you try and move your body but cannot. In any event when you start to feel SP you should try and stay as relaxed as possible. While your body is more active physiologically in REM sleep, you probably shouldn’t have a racing heart rate. Any sort of emotional intensity will just cause you to wake right back up. You need to learn to become a passive observer to what is happening to your body and what you see. Eventually HH will begin to sppear and become a dream scene; at that point allow yourself to be drawn in (don’t force yourself) and then voila, you will be a lucid dream.