Dragon Girl Tea was a flash of inspiration that came after 20 years of training and unusual experiences in Chinese Kung fu, Buddhist study under my teacher, tea making and tea ceremony.  I want to share just a little bit of my story with you. And I will be sharing more on my blog coming later in 2022.

I began my journey into the Chinese Arts after having asthma as a child and feeling very weak and fragile in my life. After some very harrowing years of experiences in and out of the hospital, I was eventually on 5 to 6 different inhalers and medications. There were times where I was scared for my life and could barely take in enough air.  I remember thinking, I have so much to give and I am still young, how can I live my life this way?  Not being able to breathe is harrowing enough, but when you want to be physically active and accomplish great things, having this weakness does something to the psyche of a person. As anyone with asthma or other difficulties can attest to, I felt like I was in prison sometimes and I wanted so much to be free. So, I eventually sought out other ways to heal. 

INSERT PICTURE HERE: Erin Kung fu 1

I began in the art of Chinese Kung fu and instantly fell in love with it. At that time, I was one of the few girls in the kung fu classes and I measured myself up against the guys. I developed a lot of strength and my asthma did improve somewhat - but I still had some difficult asthma attacks during training. When it happened, I was stubborn and would push and suffer through it. But it was hard to accomplish the skills needed to be successful in martial arts with this limitation. 

It wasn’t until I trained with a Chinese Qigong master from Beijing and later, lived with her for more than 2 years, that my asthma improved by 80% in the first year! I went off ALL medications and continued to study with Master Yan in tai chi, chinese medicine theory and I learned a lot of life lessons from her.  

INSERT PICTURE HERE Erin Teacher pic 1, Erin Teacher pic 2, Erin Teacher pic 3

From there, I met my current master/mentor, a Chinese Buddhist monk from Malaysia. I studied in depth with him, learning about the mind, about meditation, about how to apply what I was learning to my martial arts practice and more. I  practiced daily and within just a few months of serious practice, my asthma was gone completely.  I saw him weekly for more than 15 years, then a few times per month for another 5 years. When I was young, in between seeing him, I would call him constantly with questions and troubles, and he was kind enough to be there for me.  Shen Kuang Si was and is like a father figure to me. He understood the western mind and experiences so well, and he patiently spent years and years answering my questions, guiding me and teaching me various skills and values. I also learned a lot about Chinese herbs, tea, and tea ceremonies during this time from teachers I met at the temple. 

While a lot of my background isn’t just about tea, it all led me to Dragon Girl…

INSERT PICTURES HERE: Erin Kung Fu pic 2, 3, 4 and 5

I was so stunned and amazed by these experiences that I began to teach at my own small studio. I was still young and inexperienced but I tried to convey what I had learned and slowly some of the students, and even friends and family who trained there, began to have the results that I had. 

I began to take trips to China, one of which was a month-long hiatus into the mountains with my other mentor, Buddhist Monk and Kung fu Master, Reverend Chun Bo. I visited more than 30 temples with him and a small group of his students from China. I participated in many services, toured places not usually accessible to the public, learned more and more about the culture of China, Buddhism, Meditation, and Kung fu. 

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Over the past 10 years I have been lucky enough to both work, tour and train martial arts in China. I have also been able to develop good partnerships with tea plantations and other businesses and schools.  

INSERT PICTURES HERE- Erin China pic 3, and 4 and 5

Along the way, I had a lot of resistance from other schools and men in the American martial arts world that I met. I had to endure a lot of gossiping, rumor spreading and doubts by everyone around me. But I persisted. And so within a few years I opened a larger school and shortly after established it as a non profit, now called Gold Summit Institute, which is still operating. The non-profit works with kids and adults in the Western New York community to use the tools of the Chinese Arts for life improvement, health, community support and education on how to integrate the tools and training into the modern day lifestyle. Gold Summit has collaborated with universities, schools in China and more. A lot of the students there have gone off medications for anxiety, depression, tourette's syndrome and some have completely recovered who had fibromyalgia, diabetes, arthritis and more. Many have treated Gold Summit like a second home.

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I also began to serve herbal and chinese teas and even started a small tea room in my Kung fu school. 

And now… about The DRAGON GIRL.  The Dragon Girl is a figure in Buddhist teachings. Although I had been studying Buddhism for many years, it wasn’t until 2017 that I read her story.  The Dragon Girl was the first female to be enlightened. After all I had been through with my health, and as a woman running a martial arts school in a man’s world - I was moved to tears by what I read. I knew right then that I wanted to bring Dragon Girl to the world. I started Dragon Girl Tea Co. with a character representation of The Dragon Girl that was inspired and influenced by the story in Buddhist lore. I felt the joy and wisdom of Dragon Girl combined with my own experience were a perfect way to reach the hearts of all types of people, from all over the world. 

I have written many stories and adventures of the Dragon Girl,  inspired by these teachings, and they will soon be released as part of THE WORLD OF DRAGON GIRL. 

There are also many stories and unusual experiences I had along the way before meeting Dragon Girl and I will share some of those on the DRAGON GIRL BLOG, and maybe a Youtube channel later.

 Thank you for reading, and I hope you will join me as we experience the wonder of The Dragon Girl World together!