A: Tedi, I looked over the website you sent me. And what it seems to me is that there is no set core cause for dysphonia. So that means everyone achieves it from a different place. Now as to how you are able to tense your own vocal chords, that I do not know. One might ask have you ever considered to just stop and not do that any longer? How do you know when to do it and when not to? Now the answer to any of these questions, you may not know consciously, but obviously there is a way...your vocal chords do it, while the vocal chords of others don't.
All muscles can contract and relax. And you have been doing that for years, each in their own way, at their own time. You have been completely physically healthy for many years, and at some point you began tensing one or a few particular muscles, in a particular way, by which you felt some discomfort. And if you having been healthy for so many years and are able to do that, I wonder what else you can do. Can you tense them at will? Can you keep that tension for five whole minutes without fail.
What other muscles can you tense up? And how do you relax those? Is it the same way in which you relax your vocal chords?
I have found that especially for physical problems (actually all problems), you as the person experiencing it, knows best. Because you at some level know how you do what you do, as well as when you do it.
Now there may be some root cause through which this all began, and most likely you do not know that consciously, otherwise we would not be having this discussion. So that would be something to investigate, perhaps in an altered state, one which may be felt in hypnosis, by which you may be able to access thoughts and memories which are not necessarily at the surface level. Then there is the possibility of disturbance at the energetic level, which as you may already know if you have read any works by Einstein, we are all just energy; and if this energy gets blocked then that can manifest itself in physical ways. The meridian-based psychologies (No Needles) I use and teach are extremely effective with such problems. You may also consider acupuncture itself.
Honestly, what it all comes down to is there can be many reasons why you are experiencing this as well as many approaches that can remedy such a problem, but without seeing or hearing you...well, in written form, it all amounts to mere speculation.
In any case, I hope this gets you to consider some more alternatives. I don't support the band-aid theory of healing, when something is still jabbing at the wound. Foreign elements may aid in healing, but in the end all healing comes from within.
I mean just take a moment to consider, the last time you cut yourself and healed it. It truly is amazing how our bodies can heal. Even if you cut your finger and it heals, your body also knows when to stop healing. I mean you don't grow an additional finger as a result of the wound.
So learn to utilize this gift that you carry inside yourself, and if I can assist you in any way along that path, feel free to contact me.
-Oz
