Lama Tsultrim Allione, MA

Lama Tsultrim Allione is the bestselling author of Women of Wisdom, Feeding Your Demons and Wisdom Rising Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine. She was the first American to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1970 in India . For several years she lived in sacred places, caves and hermitages in the Himalayas. She returned in 1973 and was invited to travel with Allen Ginsberg and Ram Dass, and subsequently was asked to be Ginsberg’s meditation instructor. She later disrobed, married and became the mother of four, but lost a daughter to SIDS, which created a deep need for the stories of women teachers and resulted in her first book Women of Wisdom. She became a widely known Buddhist teacher developing innovative ways to teach ancient methods applying the Western psychological understanding. She developed a method called FYD (FeedingYour Demons) subject of her second bestselling book Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, a five step practice based on feeding not fighting our demons such as anxiety, depression, or addiction. Now this method is the subject of several promising scientific studies. Lama Tsultrim is the founder of Tara Mandala, a 700-acre retreat center near Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
In 2007 she was recognized in Tibet as the emanation of the renowned 11th-century Tibetan yogini, Machig Labdrön. She received the “Outstanding Woman in Buddhism” award in 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.