Beginner trying to get first lucid dream

Hello, I have tried a couple a techniques to try to get my first lucid dream and I have a couple of questions before my 7th attempt.

The 2 techniques I tried are WILD and SSILD. Here's how it went:

1st attempt I woke up early and tried WILD. I ended up falling asleep but had a dream that I clearly remember. It was about answering multiple choice questions and I remember looking around at them.

Skipping ahead to shorten, can add more if needed.

5th attempt I woke up early and tried SSILD. I went through the cycles and then went to sleep and had a very vivid and long dream that I clearly remember.

6th attempt is SSILD, had a dream but don't remember it. Woke up for a few seconds and thought, "I had a dream about that?" But forgot it.

And now for the questions.
Which technique should I try again tonight?
I have not been setting an alarm, just telling myself to wake up at a certain time which usually works, is this ok?

Oh and every time I wake up to do these techniques I have a song stuck in my head that just plays over and over, even if I couldn't remember any song just before I first went to sleep.

Thanks for your help and feel free to put any tips you might have for getting my first lucid dream.

Hi.

Never really tried SSILD, so can't help you there. My opinion though is, that at first, the basic techniques should be tried. Like the classic WILD. Then, based on some results, one can adjust.

1. Yes, it's best to wake up naturally, without alarm. Alarm can jolt you awake and make you forget your dream, since it wakes you up to fully awake too quick.

I drink some water every time I wake up at night, and that in turn wakes me up every few hours for the nature call. That normally happens when we wake up between the sleep cycles, right after the REM is over. Prime time to remember the dream we just woke up from or shortly after.

Or mental command, a mantra, "I wake up after every dream" or "at 2am" also works.

Even if you don't WILD after a WBTB, or you fall asleep, you have a better chance of a DILD. Just repeat your mantras as falling asleep. Or go for a WILD.
WILD
Induction Methods and Techniques

Good luck!

Hello. Here is my procedure in a nut shell.

1. WBTB

2. Meditate (optional)

3. While laying down visualise a small sphere emerging out of your throat. Imagine in your minds eye this sphere, which is about the size of a tennis ball, floating slowly around your room. This may sound strange, but it tends to activate and dislocated the dream body from the physical body.

4. Using your tactile and visual imagination, imagine a rope or latter hanging over you. Vividly imagine your imagined mental body reaching out and pulling itself upward, over and over. If done correctly one should feel a pulling and pressure like sensation where the mental body is separating from the physical one.

5. Imagine either a replica of your body or a simple sphere floating above ones body. Take its perspective, imagine you are seeing and feeling from its location. Float upward until you reach the ceiling, reach ones hand out and feel the ceiling, take careful tactile note of its detailed topography. Repeat this over and over.

6. Imagine a large magnetic sphere floating above ones body. Vividly imagine the feeling out being strongly pulled towards it.

Thanks for these answers, will try a WILD tonight.