ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Leila-Scott M. Price ’93 Leila-Scott M. Price ’93, along with her husband John Price, Ph.D., LPC, Depth Psychotherapist, are the co-founders of The Center for Healing Arts & Sciences, PLLC in Houston, and parents to two children, River and Sufi. The Center for Healing Arts & Sciences is a mind, body, and spirit wellness collaborative, offering psychotherapy, group therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and holistic health coaching. Leila-Scott says her path was not exactly direct, but she is where she is meant to be. The Center is a manifestation of the Prices’ dream to create an all-encompassing healing experience. Licensed practitioners combine years of knowledge in psychology, education, Chinese medicine, and health to deliver a holistic care model. We met up with Leila-Scott to dive deeper into what’s transpired since life at EHS and how her work fulfills her today. EHS: What have you been doing since Episcopal? LMP: I was so fortunate to be able to go to my dream school, Vanderbilt University in Nashville; and during that period, I spent a semester in Paris and London, going to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu. After graduation, I moved to San Francisco where I pursued catering and event coordinating for five years and became vice president of the International Special Event Society (ISES), San Francisco chapter. Then I followed my entrepreneurial spirit and began my own event coordinating business, which was absolutely thrilling. After September 11, 2001, I moved home to Houston to be close to my family but soon realized that I wasn’t ready to plant roots here yet and was off to Chicago, where I re-entered the food industry and worked for a high-end chocolate company to help launch their ice cream product. Toward the end of my time in San Francisco, I began practicing yoga and continued both in Houston and Chicago. I did long-term and intensive teacher trainings, which taught not only the asana or posture aspect of yoga but also the philosophy piece. While I lived in Chicago, I felt a ‘calling’ to pursue Chinese medicine, which I ignored for three years until I finally took the plunge and got my master's in Chinese medicine here in Houston at the American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. ACAOM was an intense and rigorous program which taught almost as much western medicine as eastern medicine, allowing me to pursue my interest in both at the same time. Learning the philosophy and practice of Chinese medicine felt like second nature to me as it dovetailed with my yoga training and philosophy. As a trained acupuncturist and with my entrepreneurial spirit, I began my own wellness practice, which has grown organically since the beginning. Running parallel to all these adventures was my spiritual path or what I would call my “holy longing” that has driven me most of my adult life. I have dedicated myself to living my life in as sacred a way as possible. I consider my mothering sacred and the work I do through business ownership sacred. When I work with patients, it’s sacred. Marriage is the hardest of all relationships, and I consider that one sacred as well.
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EHS: In what ways is your work meaningful to you? LMP: What I do through the Center is sacred and meaningful to me. Sometimes I pinch myself that despite all the hard work in running this business, this place exists, and that it has such beautiful human beings helping to make it exist, and that it has people who trust us to work with them coming and going from our front door every day. EHS: What activities did you participate in at EHS? And what classes did you take or do you remember most? LMP: I absolutely loved and appreciated the Four Pillars, and I fully participated in all that EHS had to offer. When I think about it, the Four Pillars was my first exposure to the concept of mind, body, and spirit! I rotated from dance to drawing to pottery to music. I was always in the choir and did a short stint in theatre, although I wasn’t confident enough to really pursue that at the time (and still have a suppressed theatrical aspect of myself inside!). My favorite classes were biology, chemistry, and math. My favorite teacher was Mrs. Pham (Ms. Ho at the time)! Originally, I wanted to be a western physician who healed people naturally, and I didn’t know what I meant when I said that. There was some kind of inner desire, although I hadn’t been exposed to the possibilities. I credit EHS science classes with my love for science and the human body. EHS: Will you share some of your best memories of EHS with us? LMP: I was on the field hockey team at Episcopal. So many of my favorite memories are practices, games, and tournaments with that crew of strong young women. Field hockey was a new sport to EHS in 1990, and none of us had any experience in the game so we didn’t win a single game that first year, but we had a blast! And now look at EHS field hockey!! So exciting to have been an inaugural member. I was voted most likely to have my own cooking show for senior superlatives!