Begin with Feeding Your Demons
Start with Tsultrim Allione's book Feeding Your Demons. This is the clearest entry point into her work—a practical manual that takes an ancient Tibetan practice called Chöd and makes it immediately usable for contemporary Western practitioners. The book walks you through a five-step process for working with your inner obstacles, anxieties, and compulsions by personifying them and, counterintuitively, feeding them what they need. You don't need any background in Buddhism to begin. The instructions are concrete, the case studies compelling, and the practice itself surprisingly accessible even on first attempt.
Where to Go Next
After Feeding Your Demons, move to Women of Wisdom. This book documents the lives of six female Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and serves as both spiritual biography and transmission of dakini teachings. Here you'll encounter the feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism that grounds all of Allione's work—not as metaphor but as lineage. The stories provide context for why Allione teaches what she teaches and how she positions herself within an ancient tradition while adapting it for modern students.
Then engage with Tara Mandala itself, either through attending a retreat in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, or participating in their online programs. The physical practice of the Feeding Your Demons method deepens significantly when experienced in community and with direct guidance. If a retreat isn't feasible, look for recordings of talks from Tara Mandala events or online courses that allow you to experience Allione's teaching voice and presence.
What to Expect on First Encounter
Allione's work feels simultaneously ancient and immediately practical. Expect Buddhist terminology—dakinis, Vajrayana, Chöd—but presented without academic obscurity. The Feeding Your Demons practice itself can be emotionally intense; you're essentially dialoguing with personified versions of your difficulties. First-timers often experience surprise at how quickly the practice generates material and how specific the images become. Some find it moving, others unsettling. The experience rarely leaves people neutral.
Common Misunderstandings
The biggest mistake beginners make is treating Feeding Your Demons as mere visualization or guided meditation. It's not positive thinking repackaged. The practice requires genuine willingness to meet your demons—your addictions, fears, resistance—without the usual strategies of suppression or indulgence. It's not about making problems disappear but transforming your relationship to them.
Another misunderstanding: assuming you need extensive Buddhist training first. Allione designed this work specifically for Western lay practitioners. Over-preparation can actually become procrastination.
Some also miss that this is devotional practice rooted in a living lineage, not just psychological technique. The dakini principle isn't metaphorical window dressing—it's the transmission source.
When This Work Lands Hardest
Allione's teachings tend to strike deepest during transitions and breakdowns. When you're facing addiction, chronic anxiety, or compulsive patterns that cognitive approaches haven't touched. When life has brought you to your knees and your usual coping mechanisms have failed. Mid-life reckonings. Illness. Loss. Times when you're forced to meet what you've been running from.
It also resonates powerfully with women seeking spiritual teaching that doesn't ask them to relate solely through male imagery and patriarchal structures. The dakini teachings offer an alternative that feels both authoritative and inclusive of feminine experience.
A One-Week Starter Plan
Days 1-2: Read the first half of Feeding Your Demons through the complete explanation of the five-step practice. Don't rush. Take notes on what resonates or confuses you.
Day 3: Do your first feeding session following the written instructions exactly. Choose something real but not your most overwhelming demon—maybe anxiety about a specific situation or a persistent habit.
Day 4: Rest. Journal about the experience without judgment.
Day 5: Read the case studies in the second half of Feeding Your Demons. Notice how others work with the practice.
Day 6: Do a second feeding session, perhaps with the same demon or a different one.
Day 7: Reflect on what shifted. Research upcoming Tara Mandala offerings if this work is calling you deeper. Consider whether you want to continue practicing regularly or explore Women of Wisdom next.
