Bernard Jensen Foundation - Escondido
HONORING THE LEGACY BIOGRAPHY OF DR. BERNARD JENSEN A Tribute Page to One of the Greatest Healers the World has ever known. Dr. Bernard Jensen, Ph.D., D.C., Nutritionist, Author, Lecturer Born on March 25, 1908, to parents of Danish descent, Eugen and Anna Jensen, Jorgen Bernard Jensen was raised in Stockton, California, then a small rural town in one of the richest agricultural valleys of the state. The unexpected death of his mother at age 30 from tuberculosis and consumption left three children to be raised by their father, Eugen Jensen who was a chiropractor.
Very little has been written about Bernard’s early life growing up in Stockton, his brother and sister, and a few comments in lectures he made about his father who was mentioned as very strict and analytical. Early in life, young Bernard displayed the qualities needed for his future work. His penchant for being an analytical, critical, serious perfectionist blended with his sensitive, competitive, spiritual-minded personality to arm him with an unusual perspective that opened the doors to the unconventional life he was soon to enter. But before that path was firmly set, several intense learning experiences occurred which determined the direction he was to take. Being his own worst obstacle, restless and never satisfied, he would rather study and read a book than eat or sleep. His father was a chiropractor, and young Bernard followed in his path.
When he was 18 years old, Bernard entered the West Coast Chiropractic College in Oakland, California. During his four years of study, Bernard burned the midnight oil while holding down as many as two outside jobs simultaneously. The strain was immense. The capacity to push forward and the ability to persevere doggedly toward a goal were firmly established, but there was a price to pay. Bernard supported himself by working at a dairy in his spare time, and the long hours of work and study, along with poor food habits, took a heavy toll on Bernard’s health. After receiving his diploma in 1929, Dr. Bernard Jensen went into practice, opening his first office in Oakland, California. He focused intently on the task of his calling which was to offer a helping hand to those suffering and in need.
Dr. Bernard Jensen’s devotion was complete, the hours long, his personal needs forgotten. By this time, the sacrificing of many years began to demand attention. His health began to fail. A Doctor diagnosed his condition as bronchiectasis, an often fatal lung condition, with no known cure at the time. “There is nothing I can do for you,” he was told. The young man refused to give up, searching out a Seventh Day Adventist Medical Doctor by the name of Ellen G. White who taught him basic nutritional principles, told Dr. Bernard Jensen to leave junk food alone and promptly presented him with a maintenance program involving natural health that emphasized the return to a pure, natural and whole foods regimen. Following this program brought excellent results. Dr. Bernard Jensen was soon on the way back to health and renewed vitality.
A great turning point had occurred. To be able to study nutrition and discover the laws of right living became his burning desire. Dr. Bernard Jensen turned the experience of what he learned from the Seventh Day Adventist Medical Doctor about the holistic approach to help his patients get better and teach them how to prevent getting sick. Dr. Bernard Jensen began taking breathing exercises with Thomas Gaines, once an instructor for the New York City Police Department. Slowly, and over a period of time, his health returned, and his lungs eventually healed completely. Using this knowledge in working with his patients the results were dramatic and effective. Dr. Bernard Jensen’s attention was now riveted in this direction.
Natural therapeutics became his healing mode, setting the pattern for the rest of his life. He began to travel in search of more knowledge and information. Dr. Bernard Jensen opened his first office in Oakland, California, in 1929. He later moved to Los Angeles and expanded his practice to include branch offices at Long Beach and Santa Monica, with several chiropractors working under him. Such success had not come about overnight. In Chicago, Dr. Bernard Jensen took his post-graduate work at the National Chiropractic College and later from the Los Angeles Chiropractic College closer to home.
Upon returning to California, he began an intensive study and investigation of something he was recently just learning about, the subject of iridology. Pursuing more training, Dr. Bernard Jensen traveled to New Jersey and studied the subject of iridology in depth at a chiropractic-osteopathic college. Before graduation from this class Dr. Bernard Jensen was required to draw 500 irises in detailed color. The combination of natural health care and iridology proved to be a rewarding path for the young doctor to follow. In the 1930’s, Dr. Bernard Jensen met Dr. J. Haskel Kritzer MD, who encouraged Dr. Bernard Jensen to not only study iridology, but to set out on his career of teaching the subject as well.