Aquarian-Age Healing History — Bionomics Health Institute

John hurley

John Lemberg Hurley was born November 8, 1883, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

As a child and youth, Hurley worked around the railroads of Altoona and eventually became a shop hand, an apprentice machinist, then a draftsman. He worked his way up through the ranks to become a mechanical engineer. (This was the usual education route in engineering at the turn of the twentieth century). He worked as a mechanical engineer for about ten years and was prominent and successful in his field. While working at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hurley fell onto a steel girder and seriously injured his leg and pelvis. He suffered several weeks of paralysis before recovering.

Hurley was introduced to chiropractic when his mother almost completely lost her vision. She was treated by a prominent eye doctor, but her blindness persisted. She heard about chiropractic and sought treatment from a chiropractor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She recovered her eyesight and her health after a few treatments. Hurley was impressed by this, sought treatments for himself, and gained significant relief.

Intrigued by chiropractic, Hurley attended Marchand College of Chiropractic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduation in 1914, he set up an office in Reading, Pennsylvania, and established a successful business. From the time he was a student, Hurley studied and researched methods for perfecting chiropractic. He became frustrated with chiropractic, however, because he believed that it gave unpredictable results: sometimes the results were very good, but sometimes they were not as expected. As a scientist, he wanted predictable results.

By the early 1920s, Dr. Hurley had moved to Los Angeles, California. He developed a successful practice there and was head of a chiropractic association for several years. He was a faculty member in the Department of Physiology at Golden State College of Chiropractic at the time it amalgamated with Los Angeles Chiropractic College in 1923, though he did not continue on the staff at LACC.

Dr. Hurley kept abreast of the latest medical research, and in 1926 he read a book that was to have a strong influence on his work: A Bi-Polar Theory of Living Processes by G.W. Crile, MD, who was the Chair of Surgery at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Hurley studied the book at length until he believed he understood it. He had already been developing his own theories, based in Newtonian physics, regarding how the human body reacts to scientific laws in ways similar to inorganic matter. After his comprehensive study of Crile (among others), he believed that he understood how the human body functioned down to the cellular level. He incorporated Dr. Crile’s ideas regarding the functioning of cells with his own experiences and knowledge in mechanics, engineering, and physiology to develop a new method of healing.

aquarian-age healing

By 1929, Dr. Hurley had developed the essential principles and techniques of a new system of manual therapy, which he named “Aquarian-Age Healing.” This name was chosen because of the prophecy that “during the period when the constellation of Aquarius … occupies the eastern horizon, mankind will realize the brotherhood of man” (Aquarian-Age Healing for You, page 5), there will be no more pain and sorrow, and people will take care of each other.

Dr. Hurley created the terms “Bio-Mechanics” and “Bio-Engineering” to reduce his theory to accurate statement and technique. He is the first person known to have used the mechanical engineering term “stress” in a specific way to describe what happens to the human body when exposed to various kinds of forces, predating Hans Selye’s (the "father of stress") own use of the term by several years.

helen sanders

Dr. Hurley’s first student in his new method was the secretary in his office, Helen Sanders, who at that time (January 1929) was a student of chiropractic at Los Angeles Chiropractic College, Los Angeles, California.

Helen Sanders was born around 1903 or 1904. She attended Los Angeles Chiropractic College and graduated in June, 1929.

After obtaining her chiropractic license, she continued to work with Dr. Hurley in further developments of Aquarian-Age Healing. In 1930, Dr. Hurley and Dr. Sanders established the firm of Hurley and Sanders in Los Angeles. They gave lectures and published pamphlets on Aquarian-Age Healing. In 1931 they married, and in 1931-32 they traveled to Europe, where they lectured to receptive audiences in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Dr. Hurley also spent several months in Berlin doing research to further develop Aquarian-Age Healing.

In 1932, Dr. Hurley and Dr. Sanders published their first book Aquarian-Age Healing For You (Bio-Mechanics, Book One), and in 1933 they published their second book Aquarian-Age Healing, Bio-Engineering (Book Two). Their books and seminars were initially well-received in the chiropractic field and were viewed as a scientific approach to chiropractic.

But controversy soon followed. Dr. Hurley believed that chiropractic theory was flawed. Chiropractic theory, at that time, taught that the life force was in the brain and was transmitted to the cells through the nervous system, whereas Dr. Hurley taught that the life force exists within the cell. He also taught that chiropractic adjustments were not a reliable way to change the body and could be injurious in some cases. Dr. Hurley claimed that his own techniques were not chiropractic, and he did not renew his chiropractic license. Many chiropractors, most notably Hugh B. Logan (one of Hurley’s former associates), turned against him. Several early students incorporated bits and pieces of Aquarian-Age Healing into their own work, which Dr. Hurley believed diminished his teachings significantly. (Aquarian-Age Healing came to be known in chiropractic by many generic names, including Bio-Engineering, Bio-Dynamics, and Orthodynamics. Derivations of Aquarian-Age Healing include Neurovascular Dynamics/NVD, Logan Basic Technique, and Spinal Touch Therapy.)

Dr. Hurley and Dr. Sanders were invited to Denver, Colorado, to teach their Aquarian-Age Healing seminar at Colorado Chiropractic University from October 21 to November 17, 1933. The course of instruction was 120 hours and included all “sections,” or techniques, of the work. The president of the university led an investigation of Aquarian-Age Healing during the seminar for the purpose of giving the chiropractic profession an unbiased report on its merits based upon the facts. The details of the investigation are not known, but when Dr. Hurley and Dr. Sanders returned to Denver in August 1934 to present another seminar, Dr. Hurley was charged by the state of Colorado for practicing medicine without a license and practicing chiropractic without a license. He was sentenced to thirty days in jail and fined $50 on each count. (Dr. Sanders was not charged, as she maintained a current chiropractic license.) Dr. Hurley appealed the verdict, and the verdict was eventually overturned by the Colorado Supreme Court on December 24, 1936.

The Colorado Supreme Court decision contained several interesting notations. A summation by the court of Dr. Hurley’s theory said:

“... that if the human body ... were restored or adjusted to the ‘center of gravity,’ and kept so - to attain which [Dr. Hurley] directed his course of instruction - the physical ills of mankind would largely cease ... ; that in promoting restoration of the center of gravity of the body toward its normal, he would lightly touch the subject ‘on the muscle known as gluteus maximus, on the buttocks,’ and on other muscles, which was calculated, as claimed, to cause relaxation and induce return to normal …. It is worthy of note, we think, that neither Charles Spitz, named in the information, nor any other pupil attending the school, complained of [Dr. Hurley] or of what he taught, and testifying pupils - all called by the prosecution - said that as the result of the course ... their health had been greatly improved.”

The Court found that:

· Dr. Hurley’s instruction was not inherently injurious nor “inimical to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.”

· Dr. Hurley was not engaged in the practice of medicine (defined as diagnosing disease, determining a treatment, and prescribing a remedy).

· Dr. Hurley was not engaged in the practice of chiropractic (defined as the science of locating and removing interference with nerve transmission).

The Court stated that “it is clear that [Dr. Hurley] taught but one thing - the correct poise of the body and its beneficial effect on general health. He did not profess to cure this man of that disease, but all men, from whatever ailment they suffered, by imparting one principle of universal application.”

While the case was being tried and then appealed, Dr. Hurley and Dr. Sanders remained in Denver and continued to teach seminars and speak at chiropractic conventions. In 1936, they published an “Appendix” to Book One to update the Section One (Bio-Mechanics) technique as given in the original book.

In 1937, Dr. Hurley and Dr. Sanders divorced, and Dr. Sanders returned to Los Angeles, where she continued her career.

...

Dr. Sanders was highly regarded in the chiropractic field. She authored many papers that were published in California chiropractic journals, and she was a familiar figure on the chiropractic lecture circuit. She continued to practice and lecture on Bio-Mechanics and Bio-Engineering throughout her career. She had an equipment company that sold specialized tables, and she offered instruction for a technique that she called “Bio-Engineering.”

From 1949 to 1962, Dr. Sanders was the owner and president of the Hollywood College, School of Chiropractic, and the Hollywood College, School of Naturopathic Physicians and Surgeons, a nonprofit institution. Hollywood Chiropractic College, as it was known, was approved by both the California State Board of Chiropractic Examiners and by the California State Education Department for the training of veterans through the G.I. Bill. It was also recognized and endorsed by the California State Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation. HCC was well-regarded and was attended by many students who would become prominent leaders in the chiropractic profession. In 1962-63 HCC was sold and amalgamated with the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic.

Dr. Sanders operated a clinical practice along with her other activities. She held an active California chiropractic license continuously from 1929 to 1970. Her date of death is unknown.

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After their divorce, Dr. Hurley lived in Denver for several more years. He is known to have traveled to Canada in 1944, and he had moved to Florida by 1945. He maintained the Aquarian-Age Healing Institute throughout this time and continued to teach seminars.

Dr. Hurley worked throughout his career to improve and refine his techniques, and, according to a published pamphlet, he believed that those students he taught after 1940 were better qualified than those previously taught because of important improvements he had incorporated. He never published these improvements, but he taught them in his later seminars.

In 1945 Dr. Hurley presented an Aquarian-Age Healing seminar in Jackson, Mississippi, that was attended by Dr. E.F. Hayles, Dr. John Tomlinson, and Dr. Nona Grapes, among others. Each of these professionals practiced Dr. Hurley’s techniques for the remainder of their careers. Dr. Hayles and Dr. Grapes traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida, to repeat the course, and Dr. Hayles ultimately attended five seminars between 1945 and 1947.

In April 1947, Dr. Hurley presented an Aquarian-Age Healing seminar for lay people on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Biloxi. At the end of the class, Dr. Hurley told Dr. Hayles that he was returning to California to retire. He asked Dr. Hayles to carry on his work and encouraged him to teach it. Dr. Hurley gave his own personal therapy table to Dr. Hayles, and Dr. Hayles used it in his office from then on. Dr. Hurley returned to Los Angeles, where he lived out the remainder of his years. He died June 21, 1961, in Los Angeles, California.

E. F. Hayles (1912-1991)

Dr. Ernest “Fred” Hayles was born and grew up in rural southern Alabama, and was educated in Pasadena, Texas, in the mid-1930s as a chiropractor. In 1945, after practicing chiropractic for about ten years, he completed Dr. Hurley’s Aquarian-Age Healing course in Jackson, Mississippi. Dr. Hayles was very impressed with this work and completed several subsequent courses. He used his own system of shorthand for recording lectures in notes. He transcribed his notes from Dr. Hurley’s classes into a few “chapters,” which are believed to be the best and last record of Dr. Hurley’s latest teachings. Dr. Hayles used Aquarian-Age Healing exclusively for over 45 years, taking care to keep his work true to Dr. Hurley’s instruction.

Dr. Hayles had been an X-ray specialist during the early part of his career and said that he had viewed thousands of X-rays. After taking Dr. Hurley’s course, he no longer saw any value in X-rays (as performed by chiropractors). He said, “You can see everything you need to see with the plumb line.” Dr. Hayles believed that Dr. Hurley’s work was based on completely different theories and methods than chiropractic, but to legally continue his career in manual therapy, he maintained his chiropractic license.

Dr. Hayles had a long, successful career practicing Aquarian-Age Healing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He did not believe he was a good teacher, and so in 1947 when Dr. Hurley encouraged him to teach, he did not follow through. With typical modesty, he said, “I’m a good technician, not a teacher.” Over the years, however, his patients urged him to preserve his knowledge by teaching it. Finally, after he retired in the 1980s and returned to his rural Alabama home, he began to teach small classes of lay people, approximately 200 total. He continued to practice Aquarian-Age Healing by seeing patients almost daily until, and including, the day he died.

John h. tomlinson (1913-1992)

Dr. Tomlinson was a student in the Aquarian-Age Healing course taught by Dr. Hurley in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1945. He and Dr. Hayles were contemporaries and acquaintances. He lived and practiced on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, not far from Dr. Hayles.

Dr. Tomlinson was educated in the early 1930s as a Drugless Physician at the National College of Drugless Physicians in Lombard, Illinois (which later became the National College of Chiropractic). His license as a drugless physician was eventually absorbed by the chiropractic field, but throughout his career he considered himself to be a drugless physician, not a chiropractor. He had a wealth of knowledge about natural healing methods, including nutrition, exercise, and manual therapy; and he utilized Aquarian-Age Healing as one of his main treatment modalities for over 45 years until his death in the early 1990s.

Dr. Tomlinson applied Dr. Hurley’s theories to everything in life and incorporated them freely in his thinking and conversations on almost any subject. He had a scientific intellect, and though he never formally taught classes, he educated his patients and associates in health and wellness concepts that they could apply in their daily lives.

ken and shay ladd

In 1987 Ken and Shay Ladd sought help for debilitating health problems for which medical doctors and other health care practitioners offered no satisfactory answers. They were referred to Dr. John Tomlinson by Shay’s father.

Shay’s father had suffered from a “bad back” since 1944, when he had been injured during World War II. During the 1980s, when he was in his fifties, in addition to the ongoing back problem, he had high blood pressure, symptoms of heart disease, and gastric distress. After seeking medical treatment for several years, and getting worse, he happened to renew an old acquaintanceship with Dr. Tomlinson, who had treated his mother many years before. He enjoyed spending time with “Doc,” and became his friend and eventually his patient. Over the course of a few treatments, he was able to get off all medication and said he felt better than he had in years. Even though Dr. Tomlinson was officially in retirement by 1987, he continued to treat former patients and would occasionally accept new patients. Upon referral from Shay’s father, he agreed to see Ken and Shay.

Ken and Shay traveled 600 miles from their home in Arkansas to meet with Dr. Tomlinson on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He treated them both, using light-touch, soft-tissue techniques that he called Bio-Mechanics, and they each recovered completely after two treatments. Dr. Tomlinson became their friend and mentor until his death about five years later. During these years Ken and Shay visited him as often as possible, and he introduced them to many insights into how humans function within our environment.

Ken and Shay expressed interest in Dr. Tomlinson’s treatments, and upon his suggestion they enrolled in Dr. E. F. Hayles’ basic course of Bio-Mechanics in August 1987. In this course of about thirty-two hours, Dr. Hayles taught Dr. Hurley’s basic theory and techniques (Bio-Mechanics). In 1988, they completed Dr. Hayles’ advanced course (Bio-Engineering). Ken repeated the basic and advanced courses, and assisted Dr. Hayles in teaching his last advanced course.

In February 1990, Dr. Hayles gave Ken a written certification and his blessings to teach all five levels of Aquarian-Age Healing. Dr. Hayles shared as much information as he could, including his own notes taken during seminars taught by Dr. Hurley.

After attending Dr. Hayles’ classes, Ken was able to work so effectively with several friends and relatives that he decided to make a career change. He obtained a massage therapy license and began to practice with the general public, using Bio-Mechanics as the core of his work. He taught his first Applied Bio-Mechanics seminar in 1990. After obtaining his state license, he worked to develop recognition and continuing education credits for his courses in Applied Bio-Mechanics and Advanced Applied Bio-Mechanics.

Ken is currently a Massage Therapy Instructor in the state of Arkansas and continues to practice and teach Applied Bio-Mechanics as the core of his work. Although he has researched the science and modernized the language and presentation used by Dr. Hurley, Ken continues to preserve in pure form Dr. Hurley’s own latest theories and techniques as taught by Dr. Hayles.