Now she is preparing to take her 2nd Dahn black belt next month.
Miss Pritchard, who has just returned to Korea after four weeks in Wales, said she lives a simple lifestyle in the Far East.
She gets up at 4am every day to meditate and also studies Zen and Buddhist texts.
She said: “I try not to criticise my mind, just watch and see and change where I think appropriate.
“There is no binding down and repression in Zen Buddhism as far as I can see. I try not to hurt any one or anything by action, thought or word.
“If I fail, I apologise and try not to do it again.”
But she does find time to relax despite what she calls her ‘drastic lifestyle’.
Miss Pritchard, who has taken the Buddhist name Boap Ne Yun, says: “Other people might throw away all their fashionable clothes.
“They might stop reading magazines and novels in exchange for lengthy philosophical books, and ban alcohol, drugs and coffee. But they often forget how to have a good laugh at life.”
She adds: “I don’t repress my feelings or my urges to occasionally get drunk and sing and maybe fall over!”