I,  Larisa Oorzhak Koronowski, come from a long shamanic family  lineage. My maternal great-grandfather as well as my paternal great-grandfather and great-grandmother were powerful shamans in the Republic of Tuva, Russian Federation, where I am originally from.

When I was 28 years old, a shaman from Tuva: Oleg Pavlovich Toiduk, with whom I traveled as an interpreter in Germany, told me that the spirits of my ancestors came to him and asked him to do a ritual for me to connect me with them, in order to become a shamaness, so I could do the kind of work he does.

Oleg Pavlovich Toiduk,  who has made his transition into the non-physical realm since then, was a well known shaman in Tuva. His shamanic robe is now on display in the National Museum of Tuva, in the capital city Kyzyl, he was famous for his healing abilities.

I immediately said no,  and could not understand how I could help people heal, as I was sick most of my life myself. He offered to do the ritual two more times within a 6-month period and I said no each time. I was young and wanted to be modern and normal in my own understanding of life at that time. After my third and final refusal he said that, even though I refused now, it does not really matter because no matter what I decide to do in my life, the shamanic calling will find me because it is who I am. 

And it did! I had no idea at that time that I would be living not in the Republic of Tuva and not even in Russia but in Edgewater, NJ, United States of America, on the bank of the Hudson river, with the amazing views of New York City and being a Tuvan Shamaness. Life is truly miraculous in every sense of the word!