Hratch Ogali

Hratch Ogali - 
27 August 1949 – 16 July 2010

Hratch died unexpectedly on Friday, 16 July, 2010. This sad news comes with the assurance that he gave everyone the tools they need to continue to improve their situations. His immense presence will be missed by his family, friends, patients and all those who crossed his path.

"If you have lost someone dear to you, let them go. Don’t pervert their memory with your own emotions. Accept their passing. Release them, and nourish your thoughts with the memories they left behind and the good they did."

Hratch Ogali – My Mind, My Master – The Eternal

Read: Working With Hratch

Read: How Does It Work

Click here to link to his book - Hratch Ogali: My Mind, My Master - The Eternal.

When I was told that Hratch had died, my immediate thought was “Wow, beginning of a new chapter” followed later in the day by “You Bugger.” These four and a half years working with him have been so formative in my life: a constant and reliable friend who has taught me through so much, and left me so much better for it.

As I write (Jan-11) it’s nearly seven months on and I think I’ve been through a range of emotions concerning his going, but I have had to look hard to recognize my own transition. That’s the result of his doing: the subtle shifts in me have always only been recognizable in the revisiting of an old situation.

This time, the figure who cared for me so much and nurtured my progress and development is no longer here. I haven’t needed to go through denial nor anger. I think his own quote above – taken from his book – says what needs to be understood. I miss him. Sometimes I miss him terribly. But when someone is no longer around to lean on, you learn what you actually know and what still needs to be learnt. He always said that people come into your life and then leave again, and with them comes a lesson. Some stay for a moment and others last longer, but when the time comes for them to leave, it’s not up to us to try to hold on to them.

No-one has ever taught me so much or with such paternal care. Seven months on, my initial instinctive thought of the new chapter beginning is never more true. The thing about starting a new chapter is I don’t really know what it will bring or be about. I do not have a fear of the unknown, because I have always had an innate trust that things will be okay. I was hit by a lorry and I survived. There is a richness in my life and my understanding of it that comes about as a result of experience – bits that were both good and bad at the time.

But now I need to update this site – for myself and for those of you who take the time to visit and read. As you might imagine, there are quite a few “What nexts?”

What is next for this website?

One of the hard things about looking at this site now that Hratch has died is that before, when others raised issues or questions related to what I was doing, Hratch was here to answer the “How do I?”s. This website was just an information resource and a set of experiences and personal explanations. A pointer. But these questions still need answering. People who can now not meet Hratch still ask me, “How do I access what you have had?”

So how should this site evolve and continue to be a help?

It’s taken me a while to update the site, as I wasn’t ready to answer this question. Now I feel that the message remains the same. My questioning and my search have brought me a healthier mind and a healthier body. I have progressed and I continue to do so. There is not one reason to change what has become a healthy way of life. And I still wish to share Self-Belief & Understanding. Somehow, with Hratch no longer here as the focus for this, I now want to open the site up a little. I am inviting a few others to have their own page – to use as a video log, diary or progress chart; to be a continuation of what this is already about.

Some of us who worked with Hratch are still very much in touch and talk about this question. Change comes slowly and often it is about timing and things being right for the next step. Patience and discipline. So let’s see.

Hratch was not about trying to foist a belief system onto his patients. His method was not based in a faith for any external person or god. He always said that “It is the individuals who heal themselves.”

What’s next for me and my goal to Walk?

My goal has not changed. Each time I look at photographs or images of rugged terrain, I want to get my walking boots on, work my way up to the uppermost view, and feel that profound and simple high. But I think my desperation has changed a little: if we leave out all the usual daily frustrations, essentially I am happy with all that I have and understand just how much I do have. I haven’t yet worked out how the next burst is going to happen. Life’s demands have to be met, and I no longer have the luxury of allowing every day to be about me and my walking. Balancing my work, my relationship and my legs does make it harder to focus, but that is a discipline issue. No excuses.

Keep watching my page. I will continue to update. Though maybe with a more blog style. I don’t yet know exactly.

Read: Working With Hratch

Read: How Does It Work

Click here to link to his book - Hratch Ogali: My Mind, My Master - The Eternal.

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