Dr. John L. Hurley, the founder of Aquarian-Age Healing was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1883.  His early years are somewhat of a mystery, with the only source of information being stories passed down from students, and a single article in The Plumb Line, written while he was still alive.  It profiles a man of singular creativity of thought, and individual self-determination, a man who, "at the age of nine had run away from home for the fifth time.....He earned his own living, such as it was, from that time on." This same article states that Dr. Hurley became a draftsman at a young age, and also working as a machinist in the Pennsylvania Railroad.  It was an easy transition from draftsmanship and machinist, to building, and Dr. Hurley was soon aiding in the construction of some of the largest open-hearth funaces in North America.

With his keen mechanical mind, it is said that he was on the road to becoming a well-known engineer when an accident happened.  He fell many feet onto the edge of a steel girder, which caused a long and deep gash in his left leg.  His pelvis was seriously damaged and eleven weeks of paralysis followed.

Around the same time, his mother developed serious eye problems. She was put under the care of "America's leading eye specialist" for fifteen months, after which she was sent home blind in one eye and 2% vision in the other eye. It is said that Dr. Hurley took both of them to see a Dr. Palmer, of the famed Palmer College of Chiropractic, and was so impressed with the treatment that he quit engineering altogether and attended Marchand College of Chiropractic and graduated in 1916.    Upon graduation he set up the first chiropractic office ever in the city of Reading, Pennsylvania, and later moved his practice to Los Angeles, California.

While Dr. Hurley loved being a chiropractor, he was always at odds with the theory.  Legend has it that in class he would announce that there existed one point in the body (and one point only) that would correct all abnormal conditions.  He declared that if the right adjustment was done at this point, every disease contained in that body would get well.

Dr. Hurley spent the next years trying to prove his theory, while managing a thiving practice.  Then in 1929, according to The Plumbline, Hurley discovered the importance of the centre of gravity on the body, and realized "the means of applying the Laws of Natural Sciences to health, instead of the previous method of trial and error....for the first time in the history of healing", and Aquarian-Age healing was born.

In Dr. Hurley's own words, "Aquarian-Age Healing is a science, an art, and a philosophy of life and living which presents a rational, mechanical, scientific, and more or less skilled art of analysis of all things abnormal, especially as applied to human ills."  The principles that he talked of in his books incorporated the structural assessment of the body and removal of distortion through the principles of "Bio-Mechanics and Bio-Engineering".  He also had a philosophy of living that encompassed all aspects of health, including proper diet and relief of stress at a cellular level. All of this would, according to his theory, bring the body into harmony with gravity and the natural forces of nature.

The more practical aspects of his work, the hands-on technique, can be narrowed down to two categories called Bio-Mechanics and Bio-Engineering. Both techniques are based specifically on the position of the sacrum, given that the sacrum is the "keystone" of the pelvic girdle.

Bio-Mechanics (Section 1)
Bio-Mechanics requires the clinician to assess the patient's posture in a standing position, in front of a plumb line. The "contact point" is then marked on the right or left side of the pelvis, depending on the position of the pelvis. This contact point has a direct mathematical relationship to the centre of gravity, which is located at the top of the sacrum. It is through this contact point on the pelvic girdle that the sacrum is realigned. With the sacrum correctly aligned, the entire body stands in an ideal position and pain is eliminated. Bio-Mechanics (Section 1) is the "bread and butter" of the Hurley/Osborn treatments and constitutes the majority of the treatments.

Bio-Engineering (Sections 2, and 4)
Bio-Engineering is more rarely used, and is the treatment of choice when the patient is unable to stand, or unable to lie face down and relies solely on the rotation of the sacrum for assessment.

These terms, Bio-Mechanics and Bio-Engineering, had symbols attached to them and both the names and symbols were originally trademarked and registered with the U.S. Patent Office.

John Hurley, D.C., met Helen Sanders, D.C., PH.C., while she was a student at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic (graduated in 1929). They married in 1930 and later divorced. During this time he wrote, with her help, two books called "Aquarian-Age Healing for You", Book One, Published in 1932, and Book Two in 1933. According to Dr. Osborn, who was originally Dr. Hurley's student and later a co-developer of Bio-Mechanics, the books were pre-maturely sent to the publisher. There were, according to Dr. Osborn, many changes that Dr. Hurley had wanted to make, and he originally had no intention of including the actual treatment protocols. Since the publication of the book, changes have been made to the treatment and more information has been added by Dr. Osborn. The extent of Dr. Sander's contribution to the development of the techniques and to the books is unknown, but we know that she went on to be the founder and president of the Hollywood College of Chiropractic and remained so until the college was merged with the Los Angeles College of Ciropractic in 1960's. Aquarian-Age Healing For You, books one and two, have again been made available through Health Research at www.healthresearchbooks.com .

Dr. Hurley lived in Florida, California, and Colorado and died in the late 1950s. He taught his classes on Aquarian-Age Healing throughout the U.S and Europe.