Allione also authored the recently published Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, which connects the knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism with the modern psyche, addressing major cultural issues and the roots of our suffering. This national bestseller is based on Lama Tsultrim’s pioneering technique using five steps to nurture the parts of ourselves we usually fight. She is also the author of Women of Wisdom, a groundbreaking book on the lives of great female Tibetan practitioners.
Allione has for many years focused her teachings on the lineage of Machig Labdrön, the 11th century Tibetan yogini who founded the Chöd lineage. In 2007, while leading a pilgrimage to Tibet, she was recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdrön by the resident Lama of Zangri Khangmar (Machig’s monastery in Tibet). In 2009 she was selected by an esteemed committee of scholars and practitioners to receive the international Outstanding Woman in Buddhism Award given in Bangkok, Thailand.
She is spiritual director and resident teacher at the Pagosa Springs-headquartered Tara Mandala, which she co-founded with her husband, David Petit, in 1994, having become inspired by the vision of a Western retreat center while living in the Himalayas in the 1970s. Her teachings arise from the blessings of her Tibetan Buddhist teachers, her 40-year dedication to the Buddhist teachings, and her experience as a western woman.
She writes: “We find conflict in so many places today, within ourselves, in relationships, between countries, and even in places we associate with peace, like the Himalayas. What is the solution? The Buddha teaches that violence leads to more violence. So how can we be actively engaged in change, yet not caught in patterns that perpetuate suffering? Meditation can create a working basis for changing the fundamental causes of suffering and moving toward natural liberation.” Allione was one of the first American women to be ordained as a Tibetan nun in 1970 by the 16th Karmapa. At the age of 26, after four years as a nun, she returned her monastic vows, married, and raised a family of three. She earned a masters degree in Buddhist Studies and Women’s Studies from Antioch University.
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