The Solulu method vs the Aya method: hearing your future self or seeing it
The Aya method suits people who love audio. You listen to your dream self describe your life, for a few minutes when you wake up and before you sleep. Both methods have you live in the end until your wish shows up in your real life. For most people the Solulu method is the better pick. You see yourself living the scene instead of hearing about it. You do not have to imagine what a voice describes. And it works with or without an app, at the same two set moments.
What the Aya method is
The Aya method is a future-self practice. You listen to a calm voice, your “dream self”, describe your life as if your wish has already come true. You do this for a few minutes in the morning and at night.
The name comes from the Aya app (Aya: Manifest Your Dream Self, made by Lit Apps LLC). The app sums up its method in three words: voice, vision, gratitude. It starts with a long set of questions about your life, your people and the life you dream of. Then it plays a short talk written from your future self’s point of view, in one soft voice.
Its App Store page lists a few more features. There are spoken affirmations in your dream self’s voice, and short audio rituals for waking up and winding down. There is also a vision board and daily gratitude prompts.
The Aya method spread on TikTok, where creators shared it as simple and good for beginners. The most common goal is love, like getting a text back or a boyfriend.
It is a lovely practice, and it is built on an old teaching. Neville Goddard was a manifesting teacher from the mid-1900s. He taught that you should live in the end. That means you feel the wish as already come true, and then it hardens into fact in your life. Hearing your dream life described in a warm voice, with “I”, is a gentle way in.
Each method in three lines
Both methods are built on the same teaching: your future self, already living the life you want. The Aya method has you listen to it. The Solulu method has you see yourself in it.
- What you do: listen to your dream self describe your life as already true.
- How long: a few minutes when you wake up and before you sleep.
- What you need: the Aya app (or a recording you make yourself) and headphones.
The Solulu method
- What you do: write one specific moment from the life you want and see yourself in it. Watch it every morning and night, with fresh pictures every few days.
- How long: a few minutes, twice a day.
- What you need: your scene, and a photo or mind movie with you in it. A mind movie is a short video of your wishes, with words and music.
Side by side
The two methods take the same time. The difference is whether you hear your future life or see yourself in it.
| The Aya method | The Solulu method | |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes a day | A few, morning and night | A few, morning and night |
| Effort | Low: you listen | Low: you look and feel |
| Needs a strong imagination? | Partly: you picture what the voice describes | No, the scene is in front of you |
| What you need | The Aya app or your own recording | One scene, and a photo or mind movie of you in it. Works with or without an app |
| Best goals | How you see yourself, calm, a whole life described | Any goal you can turn into one moment |
| How people track progress | The words sound like your own life, then that life shows up | The scene feels like a memory, then it shows up in your life |
Where the Aya method is better
The Aya method has real strengths, and for some people it is the right fit.
- Hands-free and eyes-free. You can listen on a walk, on the bus or lying in the dark. The Solulu method needs your eyes for a few minutes.
- The words are written for you. If you never know what to say to yourself, a voice that says it for you is a relief.
- It is soothing. A calm voice talking about your best life is comforting, especially on a hard day.
- Gratitude is built in. The app pairs listening with daily gratitude prompts. That is a good habit in itself.
- It suits audio people. If podcasts and voice notes are how you take things in, listening may simply suit you better than looking.
Where the Solulu method is better
For most people, the Solulu method is the better choice. There are four reasons.
1. You see yourself living it
The Aya method gives you a voice. However beautiful the words are, you are hearing about your life, not looking at it. The Solulu method shows your own face, already living the scene. You and your person are together on a Sunday morning. You see it, instead of hearing a voice tell you about it. Seeing yourself there makes it feel like a memory, not a wish. And what feels like a memory is what comes into your life.
Research supports this. In one well known study, people pictured themselves voting, seen from the outside as if in a photo. They were more likely to actually vote. Seeing yourself in the scene is powerful. Hearing about yourself is one step further away.
2. It does not depend on your imagination
Say the voice tells you that you wake up next to them, with sun coming through the curtains. The picture of that moment still has to come from you. For people who picture things easily, that is lovely. For many others, the words go past and nothing appears.
About 4 in 100 people have very dim mental pictures, or none at all. For them, nothing ever will appear.
With the Solulu method, the picture is not up to you. You look at the scene, with your face in it. All your energy goes into feeling it.
3. It never goes stale
Most methods give you the same words or the same pictures every day. After a few weeks, your mind gets used to them and the feeling fades. That is why so many people keep switching methods. The Solulu method makes refreshing part of the practice. Every few days, you swap in a fresh picture or the next moment in the same life, so the feeling stays strong.
4. It is easy to keep doing, anywhere
On time, the two methods are equal. Both take a few minutes when you wake up and before you sleep, and both are easy habits. The difference is what you depend on. The Aya method, as it is taught, lives inside one app.
The Solulu method is a practice, not a product. You can do it with one photo and no app at all. You can carry your scene with you and look back at it in a second. You can do that on a crowded train, without headphones.
One wish, both ways
Here is the same wish done each way. First, here is a short future-self script for an SP, short for “specific person.” That is the one person you want to be with. This is the kind of thing you might hear in the Aya method:
“I love how easy it is between us now. They text me first, every morning, just to say they are thinking of me. I do not wonder where I stand anymore. I just know.”
Now here is the same wish as a Solulu scene:
It is Sunday morning in their apartment. They hand me a coffee in the mug they bought just for me. “Stay for lunch?” they ask. I am still in their hoodie.
Notice the difference. The script tells you how it feels. The scene shows you one moment that proves it, with your SP in it.
It works for other goals too. A confidence script might say: “I feel so at home in my body now. I walk into every room relaxed.” Here is the scene:
I catch my reflection in a shop window on my way to brunch, in my white linen dress, and I smile at her.
And a career script, “My work is finally seen”, becomes:
My name is on the email announcing the new team lead, and my phone fills with messages from my coworkers.
Use both: listen in the morning, watch at night
If you already love the Aya method, you do not have to give it up. Morning is a good time for a voice. Night is a good time for a scene.
- Morning: listen to your future self while you get ready. Let the words set the tone for your day.
- During the day: if a line from the morning comes back to you, let it. That is the practice working.
- Night: watch your scene for a few minutes in bed. This is a photo or mind movie with you in it.
- As you fall asleep, replay one moment from the scene. Not the words, the moment.
You hear your life in the morning and see it at night. That way, both the words and the picture stay with you.
The verdict, by reader
For most readers, the pick is the Solulu method. People who love audio can keep the Aya method for the morning.
| If you are… | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New to manifesting | The Solulu method | One scene and two set moments, with or without any app |
| Someone who can’t picture things | The Solulu method | Listening still asks you to picture the words. Looking does not. |
| Busy | Either, they take the same time | Pick the Aya method for your commute, the Solulu method for home |
| An audio lover | The Aya method in the morning, the Solulu method at night | You keep the voice and add seeing it |
| Manifesting your SP | The Solulu method | Hearing that you are together is good. Seeing the two of you is better. |
How to start the Solulu method
You can start today, by hand or with an app.
- By hand. Write one scene with “I”, as if it is happening now. Find the closest photo you can with you in it. Look at it when you wake up and before you sleep. It is free, and you need no app.
- With the Solulu app. Maybe you want to see your future self, not just hear it. Solulu is the iPhone app we make for exactly that. You describe the life you want and add your photos. You can also add photos of your SP, places, outfits, pets and things you want. The app makes mind movies with you in the scenes. Each one has a calm kaleidoscope opening, scenes of you living that life, affirmations and music. You get up to three new mind movies each week as your goals grow.
- Other tools. Record a voice memo of your own future-self script. That is the free version of the Aya method. Or make a mind movie yourself from photos you already have. For the two apps compared directly, see Solulu vs Aya.
Of these, Solulu is the easiest way to do the Solulu method. The reasons are the same four reasons the method beats listening alone. You see your own face living your future, instead of hearing a voice describe it. You do not have to imagine what the words mean, because you watch it. Fresh mind movies keep it from going stale. And every mind movie has affirmations and music. So you still get the words, now with a picture of you behind them.