Born on December 10, 1908, in Los Angeles, California, Theos Bernard graduated from the University of Arizona first in 1931 with a LL.B. (Bachelor of Law) degree and again in 1934 with a B.A. degree prior to entering Columbia University in that same year. Receiving an M.A. in 1936 in Philosophy, Bernard embarked on an expedition first to India and then to Tibet. Over the course of sixteen months Bernard studied and learned both literary and spoken Tibetan, negotiated the acquisition of a complete set of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon and other books, participated in some of the highest religious rituals in Tibet, and met with senior Tibetan lamas and officials all the while documenting his experiences on paper, in photographs, and on film. Upon returning to New York in 1937, Bernard wrote and published several books both chronicling his experiences and setting forth the fundamental principles of Indian and Tibetan philosophies. In 1942, he entered Columbia University for a second time to pursue his Ph.D. Completed less than a year later, his dissertation Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience, was subsequently published and served to introduce the practices of Yoga to an American audience. He went on to found the short-lived Tibetan Text Society in Santa Barbara, California prior to returning to the Indian subcontinent in search of additional resources. In 1947, Bernard launched a second expedition into the Himalayas, this time to Spiti, and entered the Punjab in 1947. He was never seen again.