Hypnosis Explained — Real Therapy or Just a Stage Trick?

“Like descending a spiral staircase into your inner world — hypnosis gently guides you toward deeper layers of awareness, where lasting change begins.”

Welcome. I’m Nikta Niazi, a certified hypnotherapist and a registered clinical counsellor. I deeply honour your willingness to explore healing.

What is Hypnosis? A New Perspective on Mind & Change

Hypnosis is a natural ability of the human mind — research shows that a large majority of people (roughly around 75 %) can access hypnotic states when guided correctly. In my practice, I begin with a thorough intake session: we explore your history, your mental and emotional patterns, your goals, and your bodily responses. In that session, I also assess your level of “hypnotizability” — that is, how readily your brain-body system moves into a hypnotic focus — so that each session can be sensibly customized to your unique system.

How I Work With You: Intake, Hypnotizability & Personalized Path

Hypnotherapy can support a wide spectrum of goals: from quitting smoking to letting go of limiting beliefs; from managing anxiety to cultivating more confidence, clarity, and empowered self-direction. After many years of studying, reading evidence-based therapeutic techniques and theories, I turned my focus to the field of hypnotherapy. You might ask: Why hypnosis? Let me share the map.

Hypnosis is not magic, but it awakens the inner agent of transformation within you—a wise presence that even the most experienced therapists alone may not fully access. With the guidance of a trained hypnotherapist, hypnosis unlocks your hidden inner healing power —a power that knows you more deeply than your conscious mind does, and one you may not fully recognize until you experience it.

What Does Psychology & Neuroscience Say — Is Hypnosis Real?

You might wonder: Is hypnosis real? Does it stand up under rigorous psychological and neuroscientific scrutiny? The answer is yes — with thoughtful nuance.

Researchers describe hypnosis as a state of heightened attention and absorption: your focus becomes directed inward, distractions from the environment fade, and your mind becomes more responsive to suggestion. Brain-imaging studies have shown that during hypnosis, brain regions linked to attention, sensory awareness, and executive control behave differently, indicating that hypnosis is more than mere day-dreaming or passive relaxation. Meta-analytic reviews confirm that hypnosis interventions produce meaningful effect sizes across many issues — especially anxiety, chronic pain, and stress-related conditions. In other words, hypnosis is not just a theatrical trick. It is a tool, rooted in psychology and neuroscience, that invites you to engage your internal resources for meaningful change.

How I Work With You: Intake, Hypnotizability & Personalized Path

Here’s what our collaboration can look like:

1. Intake & Assessment — We map your story: nervous-system history, thought patterns, self-sabotage cycles, goals. We assess your hypnotizability: how naturally your mind/body shifts into a receptive state. This helps me customize the process to you, rather than applying one size to all.

2. Rapport & Trust — Hypnosis requires a safe, respectful, empathic container. Your inner mind is always awake and protective—even in a hypnotic state. It will not accept suggestions that are misaligned with your authentic self. Building genuine trust is foundational.

3. Hypnosis Sessions — Using induction, imagery, somatic awareness, and positive suggestion, we explore deeper layers of your mind where automatic patterns, limiting beliefs, and hidden strengths reside. We invite your inner wisdom to emerge, heal, and direct you forward.

4. Integration & Self-Practice — Change doesn’t happen only in the session. You’ll receive recordings, scripts, somatic exercises, and journalling prompts so you continue the work between sessions. Hypnosis opens the door; your ongoing practice walks you through it.

Common Myths & Questions — Clearing the Air

Because hypnosis is often misrepresented, let’s clarify some widespread myths:

• Myth #1: I might lose control during hypnosis.Truth: You remain in full control of your thoughts, body, and decisions. You cannot be made to do something you don’t want to accept. Hypnosis is a co-created process of focus and suggestion.

• Myth #2: If I go under hypnosis, I might never come back.Truth: You are not unconscious or asleep in a helpless way. You’re deeply relaxed and focused—and the therapist guides you back into full awareness.

• Myth #3: Everyone is equally hypnotizable.Truth: Responsiveness varies. Some people are highly receptive; others less so—but even if you’re not extremely hypnotizable, you can still benefit from hypnotherapy when guided by a skilled practitioner.

• Myth #4: Hypnosis is a quick fix and doesn’t require any inner work.Truth: Hypnosis is a powerful tool—but best when integrated with sound psychological practice, somatic awareness, and consistent integration. It’s not a replacement for personal commitment or inner reflection.

• 
  

How Hypnosis Empowers Anyone — Regardless of Gender or Background

Here’s why hypnosis aligns beautifully with deep empowerment no matter who you are:

• Accessing your internal authority: Hypnosis invites you inward—to your body’s wisdom, your deeper mind, your felt sense of self—rather than relying exclusively on external solutions.

• Re-programming limiting beliefs: The subconscious stores tapes of old stories—“I’m not enough,” “I always self-sabotage,” “I’ll never hold on to love,” etc. Hypnosis offers a way to shift those tapes, replace them with stronger patterns, and align you with your chosen trajectory.

• Mind-body integration: Hypnosis bridges mental and physiological states. It helps you feel change, not just think change. That embodiment magnifies transformation.

• Agency and choice: This is not about being passive. You step into your self-leadership. Hypnosis supports your capacity to choose, shift, act—and to live from your internal centre rather than reacting to outer circumstances.

• Adaptable to multiple goals: Whether your aim is quitting smoking, easing anxiety, shifting relationships, enhancing performance, releasing trauma, or cultivating a new self-narrative—hypnosis supports you. It is not limited by gender, age, or background.

• 
  

Evidence & Use-Cases: What Hypnosis Can Help With

• Anxiety & Stress: Meta-analysis of 17 trials found a mean effect size of 0.79 at end of treatment, and 0.99 at follow-up for hypnosis combined with other psychological interventions.

• Chronic Pain & Pain Perception: Through neuroimaging research, hypnosis has been shown to reduce activity in the “salience network” (which signals threat/pain) thereby reducing perceived pain intensity.

• Various Conditions: Systematic reviews indicate hypnosis is effective for stress reduction, wellbeing promotion, surgical preparation, anxiety, and confidence building.

• Quit Smoking, Weight Loss & Habit Change: While some findings are mixed (for example hypnosis for smoking cessation shows variable results) hypnosis remains a valuable adjunct and has shown promising outcomes when combined with other therapies.

• Improving Quality of Life & Well-being: Review studies show hypnosis helps with sleep issues, IBS, emotional distress and quality of life in diverse populations.

How to Prepare & What to Expect

Here’s a guide to what you can expect when you decide to work together:

• First session (Intake + gentle hypnosis): We’ll talk about your story and goals, assess your hypnotizability, clear any myths/fears, and then I’ll guide you into a gentle hypnotic experience so you feel what it’s like.

• Subsequent sessions: Each session will build on the previous. You’ll explore specific themes: old patterns of self-sabotage, relational dynamics, emotional flow, embodied beliefs, new action pathways.

• Between sessions: I’ll provide you with recordings, scripts, somatic exercises, journalling prompts. Integration matters. Real change happens when the session ripples out into your everyday life.

• Your role: Be willing to show up with curiosity, openness, and commitment. You don’t need “prior experience” in healing work—but you do need to bring your authentic self into the process. Hypnosis is a collaboration.

• Safety & Ethics: Your inner mind remains respected. Hypnosis, when guided ethically by a qualified practitioner, is safe and aligned with your values. Your autonomy always remains intact.

Why Choose Hypnosis + Psychology Together

Your brain is a dynamic system of beliefs, emotions, nervous-system patterns, body sensations and behavioural habits. Psychology gives us maps to understand that system (cognitive-behavioural frameworks, somatic theories, attachment theory, nervous-system regulation). Hypnosis offers the mode of change—accessing the more fluid, less-accessible parts of your mind so those psychological maps become felt, embodied, real.

Together, they create a synergy:

• You understand your story (psychology)

• You feel the change (somatic/hypnosis)

• You embed the change (practice, integration)And you begin to live from your next level of possibility.

Realizing the Potential: Your Invitation

If you’ve read this far, you may already feel a stir inside—perhaps you’re weary of repeating old cycles (self-sabotage, fear of abandonment, emotional underflow, holding back, rushing in, ghosting, being ghosted). You may sense that your current narrative is no longer serving you—and your inner knowing whispers: “There must be another way.”

Hypnosis isn’t about bypassing your pain; it’s about transforming your relationship to yourself, your patterns, your body, your life. It’s about awakening your inner agent of change—not becoming someone else, but becoming more you. One day you will look back and realize your relationship to yourself, your responses, your decisions, your emotional flow — everything has shifted. And you will know: it wasn’t the technique alone. It was you. Hypnosis simply helped you remember.

If you're ready to step into something more embodied, more aligned, more empowered… if you’re ready to trust your internal wisdom and walk with a guide who honours your story, your pace, and your autonomy — I invite you to book your intake session with me here.

Together, we will map your path, awaken your hypnotic potential, and begin your next chapter of growth and healing.