Teachers

Lama Tsultrim Allione

Lama Tsultrim Allione is the bestselling author of Women of Wisdom (1984), Feeding Your Demons (2008), and Wisdom Rising Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine (2018). Lama Tsultrim is the founder of Tara Mandala, a 700-acre retreat center with a three-story temple and library dedicated to the divine feminine in the Buddhist tradition, located near Pagosa Springs in southwest Colorado. She leads a vibrant international community with over forty groups around the world. Born in New England, she traveled to Asia in her late teens, and in 1970, at the age of 22 in Bodhgaya, India, she became the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. She later disrobed, married and became the mother of three and now is a grandmother of six. In 2007, she was recognized in Tibet and Nepal as the reincarnation of a renowned 11th-century Tibetan yogini, Machig Labdrön, and she is one of the few women Lamas in the world today. In 2012, she received the Machig Labdron Empowerment from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. She was awarded international recognition as an “Outstanding Woman in Buddhism” in 2009 by a panel of distinguished scholars and practitioners in Bangkok, Thailand.

Photo: © Katrin Röder

 

Events with Lama Tsultrim Allione

Feeding Your Demons® - Online Program
Open Dates

Join the Feeding Your Demons® Online Program and become fully certified to use this method in a professional setting with clients, or choose the à la carte options for personal growth and enrichment. Through compelling content and practice assignments, participants engage in a journey of increasing levels of personal transformation…

Lama Live!
Open Dates

IMPORTANT!!! This is an internal listing for the calendar that is redirected through a forwarding link by Ben to: https://www.taramandala.org/connect/ask-lama-tsultrim/  the root text document for website copy updates is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UGQxNsuTuED_DM-UVs8I4VoXLoXzlZaJqMaHRQioNv0/edit#

Zhitro Self Paced Program
Open Dates

In our society, we often lack practices specifically designed to help someone who has died as they embark on their transitional journey. The simple and accessible practice of Zhitro provides a meaningful way for a practitioner to assist the deceased. This practice also helps individuals become familiar with the visions…

Riwo Sangcho Self Paced Program
Open Dates

Riwo Sangchö is the most widely-practiced sadhana for the Tibetan rite of sang, fragrant smoke offering. Sang is an ancient and powerful practice for purifying sickness, removing obstacles, accruing merit, and paying karmic debts. Through making offerings to the Buddhas & Bodhisattvas, Dharmapālas, Dakinis, and all sentient beings as well…

Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine Self Paced Program
Open Dates

“The mandala is a template or blueprint of wholeness. It has a center and four directions. Associated with each direction is a color, an element, an obstructed pattern and a wisdom. It is a way to understand yourself and also your world.”       – Lama Tsultrim Allione The mandala…

Green Tara Self Paced Program
Open Dates

Green Tara is one of the most beloved figures in Vajrayana Buddhism. With one foot in the meditative posture and one foot extending down into the world, she embodies the ideal of compassionate action, and thus serves as a powerful model for modern contemplative life. As a manifestation of Tara,…

Chod of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche Self Paced Program
Open Dates

Chöd, the practice of severance, is a profound ritual for dealing with fears, illnesses, and difficult emotions. Developed in the 11th century by the great Tibetan yogini Machig Labdrön, the practice of Chöd slowly transformed from an obscure practice lineage into a cornerstone of multiple schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The…

Machig Labdron and the Nature of Mind Self Paced Program
Open Dates

Machig Labdrön was an 11th century Tibetan yogini widely renowned for developing the practice of Chöd. She was recognized by the great scholars of her day to be an authentic master and had thousands of disciples. Machig was one of the few Tibetan women to establish practice lineages of her…

Opening the Heart Sutra Self Paced Program
Open Dates

In this self-paced program, Lama Tsultrim Allione teaches on the history and philosophical meaning of the Heart Sutra, the most widely beloved condensation of the Prajnaparamita literature. But despite its brevity and pithy nature, the Heart Sutra can be an easy source of confusion for those new to Mahayana philosophy.…

Introduction to Feeding Your Demons® for Mental Health Professionals
Open Dates

Who can attend? Licensed therapists, psychologists, counselors, and social workers Mental health professionals seeking to expand their knowledge of innovative techniques for personal and professional development Clinicians looking for a research-validated, transformative approach to enhancing personal well-being and professional effectiveness Mental health providers who wish to cultivate a holistic approach…

Oral Transmission Event
Open Dates

Lama Tsultrim Allione will offer the Lung for Green Tara, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche Chöd, Riwo Sangchö, and Zhitro practices at a future date. This is a free live-streamed event with no registration required. Anyone is welcome to receive a Lung as a blessing and connection to a certain practice.…

Journey into the Union of Sacred Feminine and Masculine
January 31 - March 1, 2025

“In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the pinnacle spiritual experience is described as the union of the feminine, symbolizing wisdom, with the masculine, symbolizing skillful means.” ~ Lama Tsultrim Allione   Venture into  the Yab Yum Mandala to explore divine union beyond gender identifications, experiencing and integrating the feminine and masculine we…

The Path of Liberation
January 31 - February 28, 2025

Course One of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program with Lama Tsultrim Allione and guest teachers. The Buddhist Path  The Buddhist path offers profound guidance for working with the individual and collective challenges we face — and transforming suffering into liberation. These teachings show…

The Heart of Buddhism A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program
January 31 - November 21, 2025

Welcome to The Heart of Buddhism: A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program. Throughout 2025, we’ll explore the history, core teachings, and practices that guide Buddhist practitioners in the Tibetan tradition in waking up to their true nature of innate compassion and wisdom. The Buddhist path offers profound guidance for working…

Feeding Your Demons Level II Buddhist Track Kapala II
February 22 - May 2, 2025

Deepen your training and knowledge of Feeding Your Demons® in Level II. Learn how to work more extensively with your allies, trace your demons in your body, and map family demons and allies. Buddhist Track participants will also dive deeper into the practice lineage of Machig Labdrön with an introduction…

Feeding Your Demons Level II Secular Track
March 1 - May 2, 2025

Deepen your training and knowledge of Feeding Your Demons® in Level II. Learn how to work more extensively with your allies, trace your demons in your body, and map family demons and allies. Who can attend? Individuals who have completed FYD Level I or Kapala Training Level I and want…

What the Buddha Taught
March 21 - April 18, 2025

Course Two of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program with Lama Tsultrim Allione and guest teachers. The Buddhist Path The Buddhist path offers profound guidance for working with the individual and collective challenges we face — and transforming suffering into liberation. These teachings show…

Feeding Your Demons Level I Buddhist Track Kapala I
March 22 - May 16, 2025

Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) is a simple but profound five-step process that guides the practitioner to transform their demons into protective allies through a sequence of illuminating questions and visualizations. Created by Lama Tsultrim Allione, it employs principles of the Tibetan Buddhist practice Chöd, as originally articulated by the eleventh-century…

Feeding Your Demons Level I Secular Track
March 22 - May 16, 2025

Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) is a simple but profound five-step process that guides the practitioner to transform their demons into protective allies through a sequence of illuminating questions and visualizations. Created by Lama Tsultrim Allione, it employs principles of the Tibetan Buddhist practice Chöd, as originally articulated by the eleventh-century…

The Awakened Heart
May 22 - June 19, 2025

Course Three of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program with Lama Tsultrim Allione and guest teachers. The Buddhist Path The Buddhist path offers profound guidance for working with the individual and collective challenges we face — and transforming suffering into liberation. These teachings show…

Dzogchen: The Three Statements that Strike the Crucial Point
August 8 - 13, 2025

The Three Statements were the final teaching of Garab Dorje, after he passed away and when he appeared in the rainbow body to his close disciple Manjusrimitra. We all have an awakened presence within us that can never be stained or tainted, but it can be hidden, like clouds covering…

Sacred View Sacred World
September 5 - October 3, 2025

Course Four of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program with Lama Tsultrim Allione and guest teachers. The Buddhist Path The Buddhist path offers profound guidance for working with the individual and collective challenges we face — and transforming suffering into liberation. These teachings show…

The Great Perfection
October 24 - November 21, 2025

Course Five of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Year Long Buddhist Studies Program with Lama Tsultrim Allione and guest teachers. The Buddhist Path The Buddhist path offers profound guidance for working with the individual and collective challenges we face — and transforming suffering into liberation. These teachings show…