Jason Elias - Kissing Joy as It Flies: A Journey to Healing and Wholeness

Advanced Praise for Kissing Joy As It Flies

A pioneer of healing modalities, such as acupuncture and herbal medicine, Jason Elias now adds storytelling to his talents. In this courageous book, Elias shares his life experiences in the context of storied wisdom from many cultures across the ages and how those experiences shaped his healing journey. It is a touching and compelling story.

Steven P. Cole, Ph.D., Director of Research, Research Design Associates, Inc.

Jason Eliass elegant memoir reveals his search for an inner freedom that coincides with the power to heal the self and realize human well-being, and for a spiritual practice that centers on the good of humankind. His example can inspire us all.

David Appelbaum, Professor of Philosophy at SUNY, New Paltz, former editor of Parabola Magazine , and author of The Shock of Love

Through his real life experiences, Jason Elias guides the reader into the deeper aspects of healing, love and grace. His stories are inspirational, entertaining and explore the true meaning of one mans soul journey.

Marc Grossman, behavioral optometrist, acupuncturist, and author of numerous books

A fascinating journey of world travels and inner discoveries that made him the great healer that he is.

Bill Lewis, renowned vocal teacher, composer, and pianist

Integrating modern practices with the ancient, Jason Eliass book, Kissing Joy as It Flies , bridges both worlds with expert skill and deep respect. It has something for everyone on a path toward healing.

Irving Milberg, M.D, at 97, an internist and dermatologist still in private practice

in New Yorks Hudson Valley

Jason Elias has given us a wonderful story of his amazing life journey, filled with insight and grace. It will inspire anyone who is on a path of healing.

Stephen Cowan M.D, author of Fire Child Water Child

Jasons memoir epitomizes a creative journey to the center of the self. Bravo!

Vladamir Feltsman, renowned pianist, professor of SUNY, New Paltz, New York

Becoming a healer one exploration at a time, in Kissing Joy As It Flies Jason Elias has created a personal university of the highest order, allowing us to join him on an adventure much like a travelogue that extends across our planet and deep into his soul. Jasons university course is unending..... He has yet to graduate because he understands that the ultimate diploma manifests in his son for whom this book was written.

Bob Duggan, M.A., M.Ac (UK), Director of Traditional Acupuncture Institute

and author of Common Sense for the Healing Arts

Jason Eliass journey as son of an immigrant stowaway fleeing persecution in his homeland to the relative peace and fulfillment as a shaman-healer in his mature years is a calling more than a career, as if he is chosen rather than choosing. He has done the work to make each struggle a choice to loosen the ties to the past, to convention, to his fear and insecurity. I encourage all those who come within the purview of Jason Eliass Kissing Joy As It Flies to read it for its inspiring message and as a standard and model for ones own spiritual path.

Leon I. Hammer, M.D., OMD, author of Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies ,

Director of Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine

In this refreshingly honest odyssey, sprinkled with humorous stories and wise words from ancient (and modern) sages, Jason Elias shares what led him away from the expectations of his male, Greek Jewish lineage, towards expressing his healing gifts inspired by his great-grandmother Kissing Joy As It Flies can take you from the periphery to the center of your own life. It provides a mirror to your soul.

Puja A. J. Thomson, author of After Shock: From Cancer Diagnosis to Healing

and My Health & Wellness Organizer

Like Jacob the Baker with whose story Jason Elias ends his book, Kissing Joy As It Flies , Jason is one with his efforts. Beyond his acupuncture, bodywork or healing herbs, Jasons work is like a prayer. Inspired by many master teachers, his mastery is his own, a soul not restrained by the weight of its own importance.

Gillian Jagger, world-renowned British artist and sculptor for over 50 years

Also by Jason Elias

Feminine Healing:

A Womans Guide to a Healthy Body, Mind, and Spirit

Chinese Medicine for Maximum Immunity

The A to Z Guide to Healing Herbal Remedies

He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternitys sunrise

William Blake

Jason Elias

Copyright 2015 by Jason Elias. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by:

Five Element Healing Press, New Paltz, New York 12561

Cover design: The Turning Mill, Palenville, New York 12463

All photographs by Jason Elias, except image of Rolling Thunder, and Elias family photographs.

Graphic images of the Generation Cycle, the Control Cycle, and the combined image of both are all by Mikio Kennedy.

ISBN: 978-0-9966542-0-3

1. Memoir 2. Healing 3. Spirituality

To all those who seek healing and wholeness, may you pull through the resonant thread from the stories of your lives and celebrate your unique journey on this eternal path we walk together...

Contents

Part One:

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Part Two:

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8:

Chapter 9:

Chapter 10:

Chapter 11:

Chapter 12:

Chapter 13:

Chapter 14:

Part Three:

Chapter 15:

Chapter 16:

Chapter 17:

Chapter 18:

Chapter 19:

Chapter 20:

Part Four:

Chapter 21:

Chapter 22:

Chapter 23:

Chapter 24:

Chapter 25:

Chapter 26:

Part Five:

Chapter 27:

Chapter 28:

Chapter 29:

Chapter 30:

Chapter 31:

Chapter 32:

Chapter 33:

by Adam Elias

Appendix:

Foreword

Living in Eternitys Sunrise: The Alchemy of a Healer

By Stephen Larsen, Ph.D.

I knew of Jason Elias for many years before I met him. My Psychology of Consciousness students at SUNY would tell me, Hey, you know, Dr. Larsen, all this stuff youre talking about: Energy medicine, spiritual disciplines, meditation. This guy really does it! What they were telling me was that Jason didnt just talk about those ideas; he had somehow come to embody them.

Over the years, we would share patients, and the impression deepened. Each of us provided different services. My office offers biofeedback/neurofeedback for traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and psychotherapy with a specialty in dreamwork, for crises in living. Jason offered Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and herbal support, as well as bodywork. The patients who moved between our offices seemed to find our alternative methods complementary, indeedbut not competitive. I could tell they usually liked us both, and felt understood and supported by their work with each of us.

But our meeting in person didnt happen until about seven years ago when, after a hernia operation by a careless surgeon, I contracted MERS (Jason mentions in his book that about one fourth of admissions to hospitals are due to iatrogenic illnesses: ones caused by doctors). I was walking proof: an otherwise healthy sixty-six year old, terribly infected, and with sores all over his body. Knowing that this disease could be lethal, I felt I needed exceptional help. (My surgeon, when I showed him the ominous red lines and open sores leading from the surgery area, shrugged his shoulders and said, take Ibuprofen. After the situation got really serious, he finally put me on ten days of antibiotics, which seemed, in effect, like using a pea-shooter on a raging wild animal.) Soon I was in the ER, and then in the hospital, on IV Vancomycin.