Michael J Tamura: Spiritual Teacher, Clairvoyant Visionary, Author of YOU ARE THE ANSWER.

Two years ago, I underwent surgery that had nothing to do with my throat or my voice, but when I awakened from the anesthesia, I had no voice. Zilch. Barely a whisper. I was assured by all of the doctors involved, from the anesthesiologist to the surgeon, that it was completely normal after surgery. It wasn’t normal to me, because I’ve had a much more involved and longer surgery before and when I came to after that one, I could speak as clearly as I could before the surgery. I kept returning to the doctors and they kept telling me to be patient and my voice will return to normal. First, I was told it would be within a few days. Then, it was a week, two weeks, a month, two months, and then they told me it might take a few months. After the one month mark, I knew something was not right and that I was just being given the run-around, because no one wanted to be sued.

So, I sought out specialists in laryngology. I went to a local ENT doctor who, at first, wouldn’t believe me, but, finally agreed to check my throat and vocal apparatus. He was surprised that my left vocal cord was paralyzed. It was beyond his scope of expertise to treat it, so he referred me to a respected board-certified laryngologist at a top university medical center in a big city a few hours trip from where I lived. That specialist took a strobe video of my vocal cords in action and declared that I indeed had a paralyzed left vocal cord and gave me two surgical and one injection procedures as the only alternatives for a partial recovery of my voice. He surmised that it was most likely the intubation process that damaged the vocal cord and nerves during surgery. I also sought out a voice coach to work with me in getting some of my voice back. One of them referred me to a world-renown laryngologist-to-the-stars, who had helped one of his other vocal clients with a paralyzed vocal cord regain his singing voice. That laryngologist said I had one viable option, which was a full-on surgery by him to repair the paralyzed vocal cord. I never pursued any of the medical options given to me, since I was going to continue to talk and teach, even if I only had a whisper voice. Besides, my medical insurance would not cover such a surgery and the costs were absolutely prohibitive for us. I was even considering learning sign language as an option!

Then, I found Diana and her Vocal Science website, when I Googled, “Natural Vocal Cord Repair” and “Non-surgical Vocal Cord Healing”. The rest, as they say, was history. My wife and I moved mountains for me to sign up for Diana’s 30-hour intensive vocal repair course in Toronto. The mountains we had to move were our incredibly packed schedule of teaching, media, and other events and commitments, along with keeping our businesses going and having the finances to pay for the course and travel, during my week away to Canada. But, we did and I had my 30-hours of training with Diana.

When I returned home and resumed my teaching and radio work, the people who knew me most were amazed at how much better I sounded. In the first month or two of having completed the first 30 hours with Diana, I would say my voice was about 65 – 75% better than the best it was after my vocal cord damage. I had much more resonance and range of tones in my everyday speaking voice than I had ever since I lost my voice. I also knew that this was a long-term process that required me to continue practicing what I had learned from Diana. I knew that would be a tall order for me because I had no let up in my speaking engagements and didn’t have the luxury of really devoting my time and energy to practicing what I needed to do to continue with my voice healing. It was too easy to slip into old habits I had developed and “practiced” for 66 years! But, I persisted and did the best I could with what I had learned in those first 30 hours. The simple reminder that Diana gave me to practice the most important part of my training was, “Smile and bite”. That, I could do fairly consistently – and, it helped enormously. When I remembered to do that, my voice would come back more and more. When I forgot to do that, I would start losing my voice.

When my wife, Raphaelle, heard my vocal improvement upon my return home, she became interested in having the training herself, since she is a professional speaker as well. Diana worked with us so that we could both go through the 30-hour training – Raphaelle for the first time and me for the second. About halfway through my second 30-hours, I felt for the first time that I was really getting the crux of what Diana was teaching. It really helped to assist in her training of Raphaelle going through it for her first time. I could see what I missed during my first run through. Once I reached that point in my understanding and training, I felt much more of my voice start to kick in.

Now, it’s been almost five months since I had my second 30-hours with Diana and I have noticed a gradual, but steady and continuous improvement in my voice and my vocal cords themselves. Yes, I still often slip back into incorrectly using my vocal instrument, as any beginner learning to play a new musical instrument would. So, my progress has been two-steps forward and one-step back. But, my forward progress is very noticeable. In fact, I just returned from an annual weekend seminar I give in Vermont and some of the longtime students who heard me speak were astonished at how great I sounded compared to a year ago. The consensus of people who have been hearing my voice throughout this whole process is that I’m now at a solid 85% of my normal voice with an occasional step-up to about 90% or more, when I’ve had a chance to truly rest my voice and practice what I learned. Just the other morning when I was well-rested and I started speaking to Raphaelle in a normal conversation, we were both amazed that I sounded normal! In fact, the volume and clarity were normal, but the resonance of my voice was even better than it used to be. It only lasted half a day with me speaking continuously to a large group of people, but, it happened. I know with continued practice, that will return on a more permanent basis. I am truly grateful for the training I’ve received from Diana and for the natural remedies that she recommended for the vocal healing, which I continue to use to this day. I’m sure that my left vocal cord is coming back more and more.

I can actually feel the nerve sensations returning in my left vocal cord. From the very beginning, Diana said that the doctors’ diagnosis was incorrect, that I didn’t have a paralyzed left vocal cord. She said that I just had what she described as a “lazy vocal cord” as a result of the intubation damage. And, of course, damages heal with the correct treatment.

For those of you interested in a bit of my background in relationship to the importance of healing my voice: I am a 66-year old American man of Japanese descent. Uncharacteristically for a Japanese man, I talk a lot. Morning-to-night, a lot. I’ve been a full-time spiritual teacher for the past 45 years and I teach all of the time. Officially, I teach, on the average, two to three 2-hour teleclasses a week, two all-weekend seminars once to twice a month, and 3-day retreats three-to-four times a year. As a counselor and healer, I speak to people all of the time, wherever I go. In addition, as a co-host with my wife of our 1-hour weekly radio show, Living The Miracle with Michael and Raphaelle Tamura, I have to be able to talk clearly. In addition, as a teacher, media personality, and an author, I am often invited as a guest on others’ radio, TV, and Internet shows to talk even more. I’ve even been featured in two full-length feature documentaries so far and have just been interviewed extensively to be featured in two more upcoming movies. My wife and I also travel extensively all over the world for our work and, needless to say, I have to be able to communicate clearly to get around. Besides all of that, I love talking.

But, wait, there’s more! Although I’m not a full-time professional musician, I love to play music and sing. It gives me great joy to write and sing my own songs and, on occasion, I sing them to open our retreat events.

For the two years before our beloved 14.5 years old Great Pyrenees dog passed away in 2017, she got laryngeal paralysis, too! But, that didn’t faze her one bit about barking. She barked more than ever making very little sound. So, she prepared me for my challenges with not having much of a voice for a couple of years. If she could keep talking with great enthusiasm, I knew I could. Although, she didn’t have Diana to teach her how to regain her full bark – I am grateful that I did! I’m almost back to barking incessantly out my window with my full voice.