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

 

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Upcoming Programs by Lama Tsultrim Allione

Feeding Your Demons® - Online Program

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

Open Dates
Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) is a profoundly effective method for recognizing and transforming the deep-seated patterns, triggers, and neuroses that undermine the quality and enjoyment of our lives. Learn more about the whole program here.

Zhitro: Self-Paced Program

Open Dates
The simple and accessible practice of Zhitro offers a real way for a practitioner to help the deceased. This practice also helps individuals become familiar with the visions and experiences that may occur during the 49 days following one's own passing.

Riwo Sangchö: Self-Paced Program

Also With Anna Raithel

Open Dates
A practice to heal the suffering of samsara, through the practice of boundless compassion and abundant offering. Learn the widespread and traditional practice of Riwo Sangchö – “a mountainside smoke offering.”

Wisdom Rising: Self-Paced Program

Open Dates
Be guided through the development of the feminine in Buddhism, and understand how each of the five Dakini’s key ‘encumbered’ emotions and wisdom qualities are within each of us. By being introduced to the mandala principle and its importance to western and eastern psychology, you will understand the fierce feminine qualities found within the five Dakini buddha families.

Chöd of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche: Self-Paced Program

Open Dates
Cut through fear, fixation and clinging, by nurturing not fighting, what disturbs our mind. This Chod practice is empowered through the lineage of the Tibetan Dzogchen master, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.

Machig Labdrön and the Nature of Mind: Self-Paced Program

Open Dates
Engage with the powerful teachings of the great Tibetan yogini, Machig Labdrön, on the ‘nature of mind’ as taught by her direct emanation, Lama Tsultrim Allione. Connect to Machig’s pith instructions, the essence of her teaching.

Opening the Heart Sutra: Self-Paced Program

Open Dates
Engage with the concise teaching of Prajnaparamita, in this profound conversation between Shariputra and Avalokiteshvara. Through guiding participants line-by-line through the Heart Sutra, you will receive a functional overview of Mahayana philosophy and gain deeper insight into the world of this treasured text.

Lama Live!

Open Dates
Lama Live! is a livestream event where we can gather together as a community for meditation, prayer, and teachings from Lama Tsultrim Allione and other guest teachers on Sundays at 9am PT.

Audio Digital Download of The Mandala Principle

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) Lama Tsultrim Allione’s teachings on the Mandala Principle. 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.

Audio Digital Download of Wisdom Rising Essential Practices

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) This includes 7 guided meditations, as taught in the Wisdom Rising book and led by Lama Tsultrim Allione, including: Mandala of the Five Wisdom Dakinis Practice Journey with the Dakini Practice Family Regression Practices (five practices – one for each family)

Audio Digital Download of Guided Meditation of Dakini Mandala Practice

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) This is a guided meditation of the Dakini Mandala practice led by Lama Tsultrim Allione.

Audio Digital Download of Relationship and Intimacy as a Path

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) Lama Tsultrim Allione teaches on intimate relationship as a powerful transformative tool for awakening and how relationships can, in themselves, be the path.

Audio Digital Download of Four Demons and Feeding Your Demons Meditation from Machig Labdron

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) Lama Tsultrim Allione teaches on the Four Types of Demons as taught by the 11th Century yogini Machig Labdrön who founded the Chöd lineage in Tibet.

Audio Digital Download of The Life and Teachings of the Buddha

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) A perfect teaching for beginning and advanced students alike that includes a guided meditation practice. In this recording, Lama Tsultrim teaches on the important historical development of Buddhism and the three core principles of Buddhist training: discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom.

Audio Digital Download of Six Moments of Opportunity for Practicing at the Time of Death

Open Dates
Audio (MP3) Lama Tsultrim Allione’s teachings on the Bardo, the intermediate stage between death and rebirth. The Bardo is an ideal time to practice and recognize our true nature.

Video Digital Download of Intimate Dialogue with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and Lama Tsultrim Allione

Also With Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Open Dates
This conversation is a fascinating account of two women’s struggle to create a stronger position for women in the dharma and bring women’s voices more strongly into Tibetan Buddhism.

Audio Digital Download of a Three Video Collection from the Intimate Dialogue Series

Also With Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel and Krishna Das

Open Dates
This three-video compilation includes intimate conversations about living a spiritual life. The conversations were recorded in a setting with an audience that posed a variety of in-depth and important spiritual questions.

Audio Digital Download of Voices of Wisdom in Times of Crisis Online Symposium

Also With Shiva Rea

Open Dates
This recording package includes 13 sessions recorded during the Voices of Wisdom in Times of Crisis Online Symposium, co-hosted by Lama Tsultrim Allione and Shiva Rea.

Video Digital Download of Taking Grief onto the Path

Open Dates
Video Lama Tsultrim Allione teaches on intimate relationship as a powerful transformative tool for awakening and how relationships can, in themselves, be the path.

Zhitro Self Paced Program

Open Dates
The simple and accessible practice of Zhitro offers a real way for a practitioner to help the deceased. This practice also helps individuals become familiar with the visions and experiences that may occur during the 49 days following one's own passing.

Riwo Sangcho Self Paced Program

Also With Anna Raithel

Open Dates
A practice to heal the suffering of samsara, through the practice of boundless compassion and abundant offering. Learn the widespread and traditional practice of Riwo Sangchö – “a mountainside smoke offering.”

Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine Self Paced Program

Open Dates
Be guided through the development of the feminine in Buddhism, and understand how each of the five Dakini’s key ‘encumbered’ emotions and wisdom qualities are within each of us. By being introduced to the mandala principle and its importance to western and eastern psychology, you will understand the fierce feminine qualities found within the five Dakini buddha families.

Green Tara Self Paced Program

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam

Open Dates
A great introductory course for understanding ‘deity’ practice in Buddhism. Green Tara sits with one foot in the meditative posture and one foot in the world, thus embodying active compassion and serving as a model for modern day contemplative life.

Chod of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche Self Paced Program

Also With Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton

Open Dates
Cut through fear, fixation and clinging, by nurturing not fighting, what disturbs our mind. This Chod practice is empowered through the lineage of the Tibetan Dzogchen master, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.

Machig Labdron and the Nature of Mind Self Paced Program

Open Dates
Engage with the powerful teachings of the great Tibetan yogini, Machig Labdrön, on the ‘nature of mind’ as taught by her direct emanation, Lama Tsultrim Allione. Connect to Machig’s pith instructions, the essence of her teaching.

Opening the Heart Sutra Self Paced Program

Open Dates
Engage with the concise teaching of Prajnaparamita, in this profound conversation between Shariputra and Avalokiteshvara. Through guiding participants line-by-line through the Heart Sutra, you will receive a functional overview of Mahayana philosophy and gain deeper insight into the world of this treasured text.

Introduction to Feeding Your Demons® for Mental Health Professionals

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

Open Dates
Discover the life-changing potential of Feeding Your Demons® (FYD) in this online course. Learn the five-step process to transform your inner demons into allies and cultivate resilience. Created by Lama Tsultrim Allione, FYD blends ancient Tibetan wisdom with modern psychology to support personal and professional growth. Join a global community dedicated to inner transformation.

Oral Transmission Event

Open Dates
A Lung is an oral transmission of a practice, and will be offered for our Self-Paced Green Tara, Chöd, Zhitro, Riwo Sangchö courses. Anyone is welcome to receive a Lung as a blessing and connection to a certain practice. If you have already received the Lung, you are welcome to receive it again as a blessing. 

New Year's Ritual: Letting Go and Setting Intentions

January 1, 2025
Join us January 1 for a New Year’s Ritual with Lama Tsultrim Allione, hosted live by the Tara Mandala Network. Together, we will pause. Instead of pushing forward, we will take a moment to release what is no longer serving us and set our intentions for the New Year from a place of clarity.

Dzinpa Rangdrol Ngondro

Also With Lopön Beth Lee-Herbert and Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton

January 16 - 19, 2025

The Dzinpa Rangdröl Ngöndro (foundational practices) of the Yangsang Khandro Tug Tig (Exceedingly Secret Heart Essence of the Dakini) cycle is the gateway for entering the profound lineage of the Dzinpa Rangdröl cycle. Since the time of Guru Rinpoche, the practice of Ngöndro has been completed by all of the great yogis and yoginis, many […]

Journey into the Union of Sacred Feminine and Masculine

Also With Lopön Ellen Booth Church, Chögé Bridget Bailey and Chögé Lisa Erickson

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 each hold within ourselves. The […]

The Path of Liberation

Also With Amelia Hall, PhD and Wendy Garling

January 31 - February 28, 2025

Course One of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Foundational Year of Study & Practice 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 us how we […]

The Heart of Buddhism A Foundational Year of Study and Practice

Also With Amelia Hall, PhD, Lopön Karla Jackson-Brewer, M.S., Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton, Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam, Dorje Gyaltsab Tulku Ösel Dorje, Wendy Garling and Erik Pema Kunsang

January 31 - November 21, 2025

Welcome to The Heart of Buddhism: A Foundational Year of Study & Practice. 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 with the individual and […]

Feeding Your Demons Level II Buddhist Track Kapala II

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

February 22 - May 2, 2025
Deepen your training and knowledge of Feeding Your Demons® in Feeding Your Demons® Level II. Learn how to work more extensively with your allies, trace your demons in your body, and map family demons and allies. (Please note: prerequisites required)

Feeding Your Demons Level II Secular Track

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

March 1 - May 2, 2025
Deepen your training and knowledge of Feeding Your Demons® in Online Level II. Learn how to work more extensively with your allies, trace your demons in your body, and map family demons and allies. (Please note: prerequisites required)

What the Buddha Taught

Also With Lopön Karla Jackson-Brewer, M.S. and Amelia Hall, PhD

March 21 - April 18, 2025

Course Two of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Foundational Year of Study & Practice 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 us how we can […]

Feeding Your Demons Level I Buddhist Track Kapala I

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

March 22 - May 16, 2025
In Feeding Your Demons® Level I, you will learn this potent, life-changing method, creating meaningful transformation in a world that is ripe for profound healing.

Feeding Your Demons Level I Secular Track

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam and Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen

March 22 - May 16, 2025
In Feeding Your Demons® Level I, you will learn this potent, life-changing method, creating meaningful transformation in a world that is ripe for profound healing.

Path of the Awakened Heart

Also With Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton

May 22 - June 19, 2025

Course Three of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Foundational Year of Study & Practice 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 us how we can […]

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 the sun. Therefore, it needs […]

Sacred View Sacred World

Also With Dorje Lopön Charlotte Rotterdam

September 5 - October 3, 2025

Course Four of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Foundational Year of Study & Practice 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 us how we can […]

The Great Perfection

Also With Dorje Gyaltsab Tulku Ösel Dorje and Erik Pema Kunsang

October 24 - November 21, 2025

Course Five of the five-course series, The Heart of Buddhism: A Foundational Year of Study & Practice 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 us how we can […]