Divine Encounters Episode 088 | Near-Death Experience Story
Michael Tamura was living with relentless physical pain when, he says, he asked God how much longer he could take it and was instantly escorted out of his body to a polished boardroom of five magnificent beings. In this Divine Encounters episode he tells Alex Ferrari what he says happened there, how he was offered a choice, and how a second near-death experience arrived two years later. The conversation explores slates wiped clean, new contracts and finding peace even in pain.
Key Takeaways
- Michael says he lived with an unusually severe, body-wide pain before his first near-death experience, and that nothing relieved it.
- He describes asking God how much longer he could handle it, and being instantly escorted out of his body.
- He says he was welcomed like a homecoming by five enlightened beings he recognized from spiritual work.
- He describes being told he had accomplished far more than he had contracted for, and was given the choice to stay or to return.
- He says he asked what would benefit the most people, and the beings answered together that going back would help more.
- He describes being told his slate was cleared and that he had a brand new contract, and says he spent two years finishing his old commitments.
- His closing message is that what matters is not how hard life has been but what you want to experience next.
| Guest | Michael Tamura |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 088 |
| What Michael says happened | Severe pain led him to ask God for help, and he was escorted out of his body |
| Where he says he went | A long, polished boardroom in a spirit realm |
| Who he met | Five magnificent, enlightened beings, and the one who escorted him |
| The offer | Stay and continue his spiritual work from there, or return to his body |
| The message | His slate was cleared; his contract was new; trust your creative power |
| Second experience | A heart attack and second near-death experience two years later, by his account |
Life Before: A Pain Beyond Words
Alex asks his usual first question. What was your life like before you died? Michael answers with the hardest part. He says he had a severe, traveling form of gout, the kind that moves through the whole body rather than settling in one joint. He calls it excruciating. He wouldn’t wish that pain on his worst enemy, he says, and he had a fairly high pain threshold.
The irony, he says, is that he lived a healthy life. He was a vegetarian, did not drink or smoke, and did not eat fatty meats. The usual picture of gout is an overweight, middle-aged man with red wine and beef. That was not Michael. His pain, he says, went down even into the sutures of the skull, and he suspected the tiny bones of the inner ear too.
He describes it as platoons of warriors inside his joints, armed with shards of glass, chopping away at everything at once. Standing did not help. Lying down did not help. Sitting did not help. Nothing worked.
A Quiet Question to God
Raphael had gone to town to get something. Michael was curled up on his bed, thinking he did not know if he could make it, and that this had been going on a long while. So he said what he calls a plain thing: Hey, God, I really don’t know how much longer I can handle this.
He says the answer was instant. He was literally escorted out of his body and transported. If you are walking through something heavy right now, remember that you do not have to carry it alone. Reaching out is allowed. And if you are struggling, you are not alone. In the US you can call or text 988 any time.
The Boardroom and the Five Beings
He found himself in what he compares to a super high-end boardroom. A long wooden table, very polished, a rich and quiet environment. Five great and magnificent beings sat around one part of the table. The being who had escorted him sat at the end of their little U shape. An empty seat waited right at the corner, next to the head of the table.
They were all welcoming him. It was, Michael says, a total homecoming. Welcome home. He recognized them as enlightened beings he knew from working on a spiritual level. He says his reaction was simple: Whoa.
Done, With a Choice
The beings told him he was done. In his telling, they said he had accomplished far more than he had contracted for in this lifetime. He had a choice. He could stay with them and continue his spiritual work from that side, or he could go back to his body and continue it there.
Michael says he felt completely neutral. No desire one way or the other. Then he had what he calls a brilliant idea, adding with a laugh that it is dangerous whenever he has one. He asked the five beings what they would advise, what would be of greatest benefit not only for himself but for anyone involved in his life. Stay and continue, or go back?
They answered all together. “if you go back, you’ll be of so much more benefit than if you stay here.” That was all he needed to hear. Send me back, he said. For more on how experiencers describe this kind of choice, see our complete guide to near-death experiences.
One Request Before Returning
As he was turned toward the door, Michael says he realized something. In spirit, the body means nothing. There is no time, no bodies, no world. Just beingness. But the moment he put his attention back on returning to Earth, he felt a body full of enormous pain that, he says, would not go away for weeks.
So he turned around before he was escorted fully out. If I am going to be of any benefit to anyone, he said, even to myself, I will need some help in healing, so I will not be in this excruciating pain all the time. The beings, who he says are very economical with their words, answered, Fine. It was the last thing he heard them say.
Back in the Body
Michael says he came back gasping. Once he was in his body, he heard the same voice that had said fine. It told him to go to his computer and look up uric acid. He says he could nearly have a PhD in the subject by then. He had researched everything he could find, talked to doctors and healers, and nothing had come of it.
He did as the voice said anyway. He says a new ad appeared at the side of the page, and he followed it. The person behind it had a story that sounded as hard as his own, and he wrote a long email about what he had been through. He says he received a reply in under fifteen minutes. He is not offering a treatment plan here, and neither are we. What he says is that relief came slowly, over a few weeks, with the help of one of his advanced students, a physician who specialized in nutrition therapy, and that he never again had the acute episodes.
A Slate Cleared, a New Contract
He says the other message from that first experience was just as important. He was told in no uncertain terms that his slate was cleared. He had no obligations, and did not have to honor any past commitments. This, they told him, was “a brand new contract.” Michael says it felt like being fully reborn, only into the same body rather than a baby’s.
He told them he did have some prior commitments he wanted to fulfill, because most people would not understand if he left them. The beings said, in effect, that it was his call: “You call the shots.” They were only letting him know. Michael says it took exactly two years to finish them all to his satisfaction.
If you would like to read about this idea of agreements made before birth, our glossary has a short entry on soul contract.
The Second Experience: A Birthday Wish
Michael remembers the day he finished. He said he was done with the old and could move to a new level that he would have to create, which he calls one of his favorite parts of life. He even told Raphael it would be a whole new space. The next day, he says, he had his first heart attack and his second near-death experience.
He says that at the time he was a vegan, no dairy, no cooked food. He adds that his medical history had been hard since he was a child, with doctors, poking and prodding and medications that never seemed to fit. In retrospect, he says, the days around the heart attack held a clue. He had given a talk at a three-day conference on a Sunday morning. That night a friend with a healing center, about an hour and a half away in the next state over from their Northern California home, hosted a birthday party for another spiritual teacher and author.
It was a good party with good people. After the candles were blown out for the guest of honor, another cake arrived, “a forest fire of candles,” for Michael, because someone had just learned that his own birthday was three days away. He was told to close his eyes and make a wish, and not to blow.
The Golden Glow and the Wish to Embody the Christ
With his eyes closed, Michael says his mind went completely blank. He could think of nothing to wish for. Everything was quiet and still. Then a golden glow began to grow in the middle of the stillness, bigger and bigger. He says he recognized it as the Christ energy, and thought that would be a good birthday wish. So he wished to embody the Christ more.
He opened his eyes, and everyone sang and celebrated. He thought that was that. In this episode, he does not describe the second near-death experience in detail. He only notes that Raphael was talking with the host a distance away, and that she did not tell him what she had heard until after he returned from the hospital. For background on the term he uses, see the glossary entry on Christ consciousness.
What Matters Is What You Want Next
Alex asked how to prepare the soul for transition, and Michael closes with a few plain reminders. Everything you have ever held on to is in the past. It is already done. Drop it. Let it go. “What’s important is what would you like to experience next?”
That, he says, is where you trust your own intrinsic creative power. You are made out of it. We call it life. “You’re the life of the party.” So let the party begin, he says, even if you are dying, even if you are in pain. Don’t let that get you down.
Placing Michael’s Story Among Others
Many people who describe a near-death experience mention a welcoming presence, a feeling of homecoming and a decision about whether to go back. Michael’s account includes all three, and it adds a notably practical twist: he bargains, he asks questions, and he asks for help. The glossary entry on near-death experience gives a short overview of the common themes.
As with every story we share, we offer this as Michael’s own account. Nothing here is medical advice, and his health details are his experience, not a recommendation.
Questions to Sit With
- Michael says he was told his old slate was cleared. What old obligation or story are you ready to put down?
- When the beings asked, he wanted to serve the greatest benefit. What would the greatest benefit look like in your next season?
- If you closed your eyes and made one honest wish right now, what would it be?
This week, write down one thing you have been holding onto from the past and one thing you would like to experience next. Keep the second paper where you will see it.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Michael says he was told he had accomplished more than he had contracted for, and that his slate was cleared.
- He describes being given a real choice, and asking what would benefit others most.
- He says that in spirit there is no time and no body, only beingness.
- He describes the quiet golden glow he recognized as the Christ energy, appearing in a moment of complete stillness.
- In his words, you are made of creative power, and what matters is what you want to experience next.
Please enjoy my conversation with Michael Tamura.
Guest Links: Connect With Michael Tamura
- Michael Tamura’s official site
- Michael Tamura on YouTube
- You Are the Answer by Michael Tamura on Amazon
- Full conversation with Michael Tamura
- Another conversation with Michael Tamura
Listen to the Episode
- Watch this episode ad-free on Next Level Soul TV
- Download the MP3
- More episodes: Divine Encounters
- Listen to Divine Encounters on Apple Podcasts
- Listen to Divine Encounters on Spotify
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Michael Tamura?
Michael Tamura is a spiritual teacher and near-death experiencer who tells Alex Ferrari about two near-death experiences on this Divine Encounters episode. He lived in Northern California at the time of the events he describes.
What happened in Michael Tamura’s first near-death experience?
Michael says he was in severe pain, asked God how much longer he could handle it, and was instantly escorted out of his body to a polished boardroom where five great beings welcomed him.
Who were the five beings Michael met?
He describes them as magnificent, enlightened beings he knew from working on a spiritual level. He says one escorted him and sat at the end of their U shape at the table.
What choice was Michael given?
He says he could stay with the beings and continue his spiritual work from that side, or go back to his body. He felt neutral, so he asked what would be of greatest benefit to everyone involved.
Why did Michael decide to return?
He says all five beings told him together that he would be of much more benefit if he returned, and that was what he needed to hear.
What did Michael ask for before he went back?
He says he asked for help with healing so that he would not be in excruciating pain all the time. The beings answered with one word, fine, and he says he then heard a voice directing him to research.
What did Michael mean by a brand new contract?
He says the beings told him his slate was clear and that he had no obligations to past commitments, so this was a new contract. He chose to finish his earlier commitments anyway, which he says took exactly two years.
What was Michael’s second near-death experience?
He says it came with his first heart attack, the day after he finished his old commitments. He mentions a birthday party where he made a wish to embody the Christ more, but does not describe the second experience in detail here.
What is Michael’s closing message?
He says that everything you have held on to is past, that what matters is what you want to experience next, and that you are made of creative power, even when you are in pain.
Is Michael’s story proof of an afterlife?
Next Level Soul shares near-death experiences as personal accounts in the guest’s own words. Researchers continue to study and debate them, and nothing here is medical advice or a medical claim.
Keep Exploring
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- A short explanation of soul contracts
- Christ consciousness in plain language
- Shawna Ristic on a council of light and life’s purpose
- Lee Papa on being offered a choice to leave or return
- Sarah K. Grace on being told she was not done
- Vincent Tolman on meeting God after being clinically dead
- Julie McFadden, a hospice nurse, on the moments before we die
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like before you died.
Michael Tamura 0:10
I had a severe form of gout. It's excruciating. I wouldn't wish that pain on my worst enemy or the worst criminal in the universe, or whatever it was just I had a pretty high pain threshold, but that did me in later on, I found out traveling gout, and it went all over my body, not just in one little joint, like most people get it. And here's the funny part, I was a vegetarian, and I didn't drink alcohol, I didn't smoke, I didn't eat, you know, fatty meats and all those kind of things, I've been always leading a very healthy life as far as that part at the time, it's like everything about gout was, oh, usually middle aged men who's overweight, drinks a lot of red wine and other alcohol, eats prodigious quantities of beef, fatty meats and things like that. And for me, it was like I didn't do any of this yet. I had this one that's traveling out. It's everywhere, down into the very like the sutures of the skull. I think something was going on even with my the little bones in the inner ear. So it was just beyond painful. And it's like there were these platoons of warriors inside my joints and everywhere else with shards of glass weapons just chopping away at it all at the same time. So I couldn't get into any kind of a position, you know, nothing relieved any of it. So it's either standing, lying down, sitting. Nothing worked, nothing helped. And so Raphael when had to go to town to get something. And while she was gone, I'm kind of curled up in the on my bed, and I'm just going, I don't know if I could make it, I don't know how much longer, and this has been going on for a while. So I finally go, Hey, God, I really don't know how much longer I can handle this. And instantly I'm literally escorted out of my body and transported to this place that I kind of compared to the super high end board meeting room, long wooden table top, very polished and very nice, rich kind of an environment. And I'm greeted by five great, magnificent beings all sitting around this front one part of the table, and the being that escorted me to that place sat at the end of their little U shape kind of thing. And there's an empty seat right at the corner next to the head of the table, and they're all welcoming me. And, I mean, it was just this, like a total homecoming. Welcome home, and I'm going, Whoa. These are some magnificent enlightened beings. I knew them from working on a spiritual level. They all said, Well, you're done. You've accomplished far more than you've contracted for for this lifetime. So you're completely done. You have a choice. You could stay with us here and continue your spiritual work from this side, or, if you like, to you can go back to the body and, you know, continue your work there. I was completely neutral. I had no desire one way or the other. I had no whatever. It's just like. And then I got this brilliant idea, and it's very dangerous when I whenever I have a brilliant idea. And so I I'm looking at these five magnificent beings, and I'm going, Wow. I said, well, in your wisdom, what would you say would be the best decision for me to make? Is what would be of greatest benefit, not just for myself, but for anyone involved in my life or involved in some way, for me to stay here with you guys and continue or go back. And instantly they all together. They said, if you go back, you'll be of so much more benefit than if you stay here. Says, Okay, that's all I needed to hear. Send me back. And so the same being that escorted me to that meeting escorted me back to my body. When I came back, it's just like I'm gasping and all that, and I'm just going, Whoa. But before, when I was turning around out, going out of this meeting space, I thought, oh, until then, when you're in spirit, the body doesn't mean a thing. It's, there's no time, there's no bodies, there's no world. That's, it's just like I'm just there in beingness. But the minute I start to put my attention back to returning to the earth, returning to the body, I have this body with enormous pain, excruciating pain, that won't go away for weeks. So I turn around before I'm being escorted completely out. I said, you know, if I'm going to be of any benefit to anyone, even to myself, I'm going to need some help in healing so that I won't have to be in that excruciating pain all the time, and they're. Very economical with their words. It's like, fine. That's the last thing I heard them say, Fine, and I'm being escorted back to my body. But when I once I got into my body, the same voice that I heard say fine, came into my ear and said, you know, go to your computer and look up uric acid. And I said, I could practically have a PhD in uric acid. Looked at I researched everything online I could possibly find. Talk to doctors, I talked to healers, I talked to everybody. They said, just go do it. I go do it. Turn on the computer, look at it, and, you know, I put the search word in there, and all the same stuff I've already read 100 times pops up. Then something's flashing on this side. You know that where the advertisements are? And I see at the top of it, oh, it says, Go cure. And it was a new ad. I never seen it before, so I click on to it, go to the site. And the company was so new at the time, the founder, there's a little blurb of his story, which was, I thought sounds as bad as mine, and but he somehow found a solution. It's all natural. So then I click onto that and to read some more. And then there's at the bottom, he says, yeah, if you have a question, send me an email. So I immediately write a, like a three page email about what's been going on and what I've done, and nothing's worked. He answers me in like, less than 15 minutes, which was unheard of, you know, on online something. So then I said, Okay, here it is. And he goes, Oh, one of the things I mentioned was nothing worked, and it's related to what I eat. So I was down to even Iceberg lettuce with nothing on it made it worse. That's unheard of in any of the literature, right? So I decided I got the another brilliant idea of, Oh, I'll go on a water fast. I like fasting. He wrote back immediately, saying, Get off your fast right now. It would be better for you to eat half a cow and drink a gallon of wine right now for the gout, then do a water fast. And he explained, it says, well, uric acid comes from the breakdown of purines, and this is what happens when you eat. You know, really rich purine rich foods. But it even happens more when your muscles break down from fasting. You know, when you don't have enough calories, it starts to take it out of your and it gets in, it just floods your blood with with that. It didn't cure me, but it started to alleviate but it still took a few weeks, but it started to alleviate it. And then at that point, I went to one of my advanced students, who happened to be a incredible medical doctor and osteopathic doctor, and specialized in nutrition therapy. So I went to her, and I consulted, and she said, Oh my God. She got my blood test. So she gave me all these supplements, and slowly I just started to not get the acute stuff. Well, when I came back from the first one, I was told, in no uncertain terms, your slate is cleared, the deck is clear. You don't have any obligations. You don't have to honor any past commitments. You're done with all that. This is a brand new contract. And so it was literally like being fully reborn, except into the same body instead of a baby body. But I told them, yeah, I but I do have some prior commitments. I want to fulfill them, because most people won't understand that. And they said, well, it's your call. You call the shots and so, but we're just letting you know this is what you have to do. I said, yeah, let me. Let me finish up our commitments. It took me exactly two whole years to finish all the past commitments to my satisfaction. And I remember the day that happened. I said, I'm done with the old stuff. I can move on to a new level, which I have to create. And that's one of my favorite parts of life, is creating the new stuff. I was very much looking forward to it. I said, Oh yeah, I think I even told Rafael, I'm done with the old now. It's gonna be a whole new space. I can start on that. The next day, I had a heart my first heart attack and my second near death experience. At that time, when I had my first heart attack, I was a vegan, vegetarian, no dairy products, no cooked anything. This has been my medical part of my life. From the time as a kid, I get taken to doctors and they poke and prod and give me this type of medication. Nothing ever fit anything, and the heart attack comes from in retrospect, I gave a talk at this three day conference on the Sunday morning that night, we get invited by a friend of ours who has a healing center, a healer in the next, next state over above, but it's only like an hour and a half drive to his place from our where we lived at that time in Northern California, and it was a. Birthday party for another spiritual teacher and author who I didn't know at the time, but I thought, okay, hey, you know something different to do, and then we'll see some of our friends and stuff. We went. It was a good party. And everything great people. And when the time to the candle birthday cake with the candles, they braiding off for this man. And everybody's singing. We're all singing. And wish him happy birthday. He blows out the candles and everything. And next they started all over again. Here's another person coming with a cake with a forest fire of candles on it. And then I start to notice they're coming. She's coming to me with the cake, and somebody says, Yeah, we just found an hour ago that your birthday is three days from today, and so we decided we have to include you too. So we got another cake. She brings it over and she goes, Oh, wait a minute. You can't blow on it. You have to close your eyes and make your wish. I said, Oh, yeah, okay, so I close my eyes and I'm going complete blank, right? There's really nothing I could think of to wish until my mind is completely blank and totally still. I can't hear anybody or anything. It's just quiet then in the middle of but there's this golden glow that just starts getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And I can tell, oh yeah, that's the Christ energy. And then I thought, Oh, that would be a good wish. Good, great birthday wish. Yes, I would like to embody the Christ more. So I made that wish, opened my eyes, and she goes, Okay, now, blow up the candle. Blow up the candles. Everybody starts singing, all celebration. I thought that was that. Meanwhile, Raphael was talking to the host, distance away from me, and she didn't tell me this until I came back after I came back from my second near death experience and the hospital and everything else. Just remember, Oh, those, everything you've ever held on to is past. It's already done, been there, done that. So drop it, let it go, and then what's important is not how horrible of a life you had up to now. What's important is what would you like to experience next? That's when you have to trust your own internal, intrinsic creative power. You're made out of this creative power we call that life. You're the life of the party. So let the party begin, even if you're dying, even if you're experiencing pain, don't let that get you down.
Our Sponsors
- Next Level Soul TV: exclusive spiritual films, series, audiobooks, courses and events. Get the app.
- Earthing.com: discover the science-based healing powers of earthing and grounding.
If you enjoyed today’s episode, watch and subscribe to Divine Encounters on YouTube.
