Dr. Leslie Korn
Health Activist
Health Activist
Hi, I’m Dr. Leslie Korn
I’m a Harvard Medical School-trained traumatologist specializing in mental health nutrition and integrative approaches to treating mind and body. My work centers on the intersection of trauma, cognition, and chronic physical illness.
My life and career have taken me to both Harvard and the jungle of Mexico with many stops in between. I am a passionate advocate for culturally traditional medicines used by people around the world.
How did this become my life’s work? Read my story
Here are my Credentials
- Scientist
- Psychotherapist
- Functional Nutritionist
- Integrative Medicine Practitioner
- Author of 9 books
- Developer of the Brainbow Blueprint®
- Developer of 3 certification programs
- Clinical Supervisor
- Lecturer
MY PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
We have been healers for millennia
I have been a rebel from the start, questioning authority. I hightailed it out of Boston at age 20, searching for meaning and purpose in life. I wanted to travel and write, but I needed to find somewhere I could do everything uninterrupted. I wanted to serve humanity, but first, I needed to heal myself.
Ten years in the jungle-no cars, electricity, or hot water, along with plenty of papayas, yoga, and washing in the cold running river did the trick. While my peers were going to school or starting their careers, I was learning from herbalists, quieting my mind, and learning to become a healer.
Because of my academic degrees, people think that’s where I began, but that came much later. I am lucky to have studied and practiced as a healer before I entered the jungle of Harvard.
A lot of academic work is stultifying and demands conformity; it sucks the critical questions and doubts out of us. I tell my students that degrees and research are essential. Still, besides nourishing intellectual curiosity — as it indeed does for me — they are simply the keys in our modern world to open doors for us easily. No need to bang on the door.
My passion for helping others comes from the heart, as we follow in the footsteps of our foremothers. In my nearly 45 years of professional practice, I still question authority and the reigning fads; the diagnoses, drugs, admonitions, and ideology are often wrong and rarely heal. Asking, challenging, and being a rebel on behalf of my patients and students, does.
I live with Rudolph, my husband of 25 years, and two smartie-pants, Havanese, Xoco, and Sascha, all of whom have scratchy beards and fill my daily life with joy and laughter.
My Story
1920
My Grandmother Jessica at age 20. She gave me my spirit of adventure.
1920
My grandparents Esther and Harry, émigrés from eastern Europe. I wrote about Esther in my books as she shared with me the old ways of healing.
1953
I was a happy baby! But here’s the point! I came into the world at over 10 lbs. and 2 feet long. They said I could walk home right then and there! This set the stage for my life as an athlete and devotee of all things somatic.
1960
At the airport, dreaming of my first international flight. That year, I began playing tennis and ranked competitively until I was 15, when I became a hippie.
1960
Searching the cosmos.
1966
Thirteen years old and I am finishing a successful tennis tournament.
1973
I arrived in Mexico after three days on a bus from the border. I speak no Spanish yet, and find my thatched roof that becomes my home for the next 25 years. My journey in Mexico begins.
1974
View of my home from below.
1974
The view from my palapa.
1976
Listening to stories from 83-year-old Don Rosolio as he is weaving a hammock.
1978
Elizabeth Wagner, My polarity and cranial therapy mentor. Friends for 35 years. We have the same birthday! Just 30 years apart.
1978
Maria, one of my early bodywork students, visited me in Yelapa. We are on the beach getting ready to find a tamale to eat!
1979
My treatment house is being built.
1980
Standing next to my treatment center.
1981
My home before the fire. The famed Zalate, the strangler fig wrapped around the coconut. The Zalate gave my house its name long before I arrived and about which I have written in my books.
1982
A neighbor’s house caught fire and burned my home and treatment center.
1983
The Zalate Fire. My thatched roof home and treatment house burned to the ground. Villagers rallied and helped me rebuild.
1985
I know how to take it easy! Hangin’ in the hammock in my palapa.
1986
Providing workshops, retreats and vacation adventures to visitors to support my free clinic. Here, I am teaching Polarity Therapy.
1988
Certifications in Polarity Therapy. I have practiced Polarity Therapy since 1977 and in 1990 became a founder of the US National Certification Board on Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.
1988
The brochure cover of my certifications, seminars, and retreats in Mexico from 1978 to 2001.
1990
Bodhi (1990-2001), my golden who worked with me as a canine therapist with victims of violence and trauma survivors in Boston and Mexico. I write about our work together in Rhythms of Recovery.
1997
Brochure for my retreats and workshops in Mexico.
1997
Taking the canoe across the lagoon to my retreat center.
1997
Brochure for our certifications and accredited Master’s degree programs which we offered for 15 years and had numerous interns and graduates.
1997
My clinic, with the yoga studio above.
1998
One of our center art projects with the kids. This project included an art show, cooking classes, sports, yoga, and the book, Medicinal Plants of the Jungle in English and Spanish.
2000
Flip (2000-2014), this funny little person was my beloved steadfast rescue Lab/Shepard mix who worked with me in the jungle and ran himself ragged in the lagoon. When his back gave out at age 12, we returned to Olympia for 2 years where we did underwater treadmill, acupuncture, massage and rehab exercises. Natural medicine for all our loved ones.
2000
Showing Laura, a Naturopath-in-training how to do occipital condyle cranial work.
2005
Saba, my golden therapy dog (2005- 2014).
2009
Berta Urrutia is a long-time friend and colleague, a local herbalist with whom I have worked in the jungle for over 40 years. Berta has shared many of her stories of traditional midwifery and the “old ways.”
2009
I have studied culinary methods with many indigenous women. Here, my friend Guillermina’s mother Rosa prepares a fire to pop parota seeds.
2009
Some fruits and vegetables from our culinary medicine class held in the mountains of Jalisco.
2009
Buying basil in the market. One of my mentors, Mary Howell, MD, the first women dean at Harvard Medical School introduced me to fresh basil and apple juice as a natural antihistamine.
2011
Making guacamole in a molcajete, steamed beets, and lemongrass from my garden.
2012
When I get tired of writing on the computer, I love to sweep!
2017
I was invited to Cuba, along with 15 colleagues, by the Ministry of Public Health, where I presented on natural medicine to treat anxiety. Here I meet with the director of the medical school.
2017
Always cooking up something new from my “brainbow” recipes.
2018
I love all types of yoga and enjoy teaching it for mental health.
2019
Xoco, (pronounced sho-ko) for Xocolatl (it means chocolate!). He loves to play in the flowers.
2021
Sascha, my smarty-pants Havanese pup.
2022
Working with my team for our pro bono Massage for Diabetes project in rural Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. I directed a documentary on the project you can watch here.
1920
My Grandmother Jessica at age 20. She gave me my spirit of adventure.
1920
My grandparents Esther and Harry, émigrés from eastern Europe. I wrote about Esther in my books as she shared with me the old ways of healing.
1953
I was a happy baby! But here’s the point! I came into the world at over 10 lbs. and 2 feet long. They said I could walk home right then and there! This set the stage for my life as an athlete and devotee of all things somatic.
1960
At the airport, dreaming of my first international flight. That year, I began playing tennis and ranked competitively until I was 15, when I became a hippie.
1960
Searching the cosmos.
1966
Thirteen years old and I am finishing a successful tennis tournament.
1973
I arrived in Mexico after three days on a bus from the border. I speak no Spanish yet, and find my thatched roof that becomes my home for the next 25 years. My journey in Mexico begins.
1974
View of my home from below.
1974
The view from my palapa.
1976
Listening to stories from 83-year-old Don Rosolio as he is weaving a hammock.
1978
Elizabeth Wagner, My polarity and cranial therapy mentor. Friends for 35 years. We have the same birthday! Just 30 years apart.
1978
Maria, one of my early bodywork students, visited me in Yelapa. We are on the beach getting ready to find a tamale to eat!
1979
My treatment house is being built.
1980
Standing next to my treatment center.
1981
My home before the fire. The famed Zalate, the strangler fig wrapped around the coconut. The Zalate gave my house its name long before I arrived and about which I have written in my books.
1982
A neighbor’s house caught fire and burned my home and treatment center.
1983
The Zalate Fire. My thatched roof home and treatment house burned to the ground. Villagers rallied and helped me rebuild.
1985
I know how to take it easy! Hangin’ in the hammock in my palapa.
1986
Providing workshops, retreats and vacation adventures to visitors to support my free clinic. Here, I am teaching Polarity Therapy.
1988
Certifications in Polarity Therapy. I have practiced Polarity Therapy since 1977 and in 1990 became a founder of the US National Certification Board on Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.
1988
The brochure cover of my certifications, seminars, and retreats in Mexico from 1978 to 2001.
1990
Bodhi (1990-2001), my golden who worked with me as a canine therapist with victims of violence and trauma survivors in Boston and Mexico. I write about our work together in Rhythms of Recovery.
1997
Brochure for my retreats and workshops in Mexico.
1997
Taking the canoe across the lagoon to my retreat center.
1997
Brochure for our certifications and accredited Master’s degree programs which we offered for 15 years and had numerous interns and graduates.
1997
My clinic, with the yoga studio above.
1998
One of our center art projects with the kids. This project included an art show, cooking classes, sports, yoga, and the book, Medicinal Plants of the Jungle in English and Spanish.
2000
Flip (2000-2014), this funny little person was my beloved steadfast rescue Lab/Shepard mix who worked with me in the jungle and ran himself ragged in the lagoon. When his back gave out at age 12, we returned to Olympia for 2 years where we did underwater treadmill, acupuncture, massage and rehab exercises. Natural medicine for all our loved ones.
2000
Showing Laura, a Naturopath-in-training how to do occipital condyle cranial work.
2005
Saba, my golden therapy dog (2005- 2014).
2009
Berta Urrutia is a long-time friend and colleague, a local herbalist with whom I have worked in the jungle for over 40 years. Berta has shared many of her stories of traditional midwifery and the “old ways.”
2009
I have studied culinary methods with many indigenous women. Here, my friend Guillermina’s mother Rosa prepares a fire to pop parota seeds.
2009
Some fruits and vegetables from our culinary medicine class held in the mountains of Jalisco.
2009
Buying basil in the market. One of my mentors, Mary Howell, MD, the first women dean at Harvard Medical School introduced me to fresh basil and apple juice as a natural antihistamine.
2011
Making guacamole in a molcajete, steamed beets, and lemongrass from my garden.
2012
When I get tired of writing on the computer, I love to sweep!
2017
I was invited to Cuba, along with 15 colleagues, by the Ministry of Public Health, where I presented on natural medicine to treat anxiety. Here I meet with the director of the medical school.
2017
Always cooking up something new from my “brainbow” recipes.
2018
I love all types of yoga and enjoy teaching it for mental health.
2019
Xoco, (pronounced sho-ko) for Xocolatl (it means chocolate!). He loves to play in the flowers.
2021
Sascha, my smarty-pants Havanese pup.
2022
Working with my team for our pro bono Massage for Diabetes project in rural Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. I directed a documentary on the project you can watch here.
Our first teacher is our own heart.
Só’taétaneo’o, Tsétsêhéstâhese Peoples (Cheyenne)
