The words and practices of an eleventh-century Tibetan woman may not seem applicable to the struggles and issues prevalent in modern life, but Tsultrim Allione’s 2008 book Feeding Your Demons : Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict from Little, Brown and Company dispels any doubt that true wisdom translates through time and cultural differences. In an easily accessible and relaxed narrative, Allione chronicles her personal and transformative experiences with the teachings of Machig Labdron (1055-1145) and offers Western seekers a valuable practice she has developed from Labdron’s spiritual practice called Chod (pronounced “chuh”).
Based on Labdron’s teachings, Allione has developed a five-step process that provides a springboard for those willing to confront and befriend their inner conflicts rather than fighting them. Her method is simple, without any complicated study or practice required, and those who have used it report remarkable results in resolving chronic emotional and physical issues or “demons.” Allione contends that the ancient wisdom of making friends with the parts of ourselves we most want to avoid instead of denying or trying to annihilate them is the path to inner peace.
Nurturing Rather than Fighting
Allione believes that the current epidemic levels of conflict in the world can be transformed on both the personal and collective level by learning to pay attention to the internal demons that undermine one’s best intentions. She discusses many of the most commonly experienced demons like depression, anxiety, compulsive eating, panic attacks, addictions, trauma, self-hatred, anger, alienation or chronic illness. Her premise is that by uncovering the need buried under the troublesome desires, behaviors or symptoms that we abhor most, then nurturing rather than fighting those inner demons, the demons lose their power to disrupt.
Five-Step Process
The process Allione has developed for addressing one’s demons takes about half an hour. It begins with choosing a quiet place with two chairs or two cushions opposite each other, sitting in one of the chairs or on a cushion, then coming to a state of relaxed awareness with three sets of three deep abdominal breaths focused on releasing physical, mental and emotional tension. Then one decides on the motivation for undertaking the Feeding Your Demon practice. Allione suggests creating a heartfelt wish that it be for the benefit of all beings.
The practice then allows the practitioner to calmly walk through a series of steps that locate the sensation of the emotional or physical issue they have chosen to work with in their body, personify that issue with a detailed visualization that gives it form and brings it outside the body, then step into the shoes of the embodied “demon.” One then works with three questions, answering each from the demon’s point-of-view, and eventually determining what the demon wants and needs from the participant. The last steps of the process are a visualization of turning oneself into the food that will meet the demon’s needs, observing what happens when the demon is satisfied and then dissolving everything into emptiness and resting in that state of awareness.
Turning Enemies into Allies
Feeding Your Demons is a useful guidebook for anyone interested in transforming their energy-sapping struggles with fear, difficult relationships, illness, self-defeating behaviors or negative emotions into powerful tools for healing themselves and the world. Allione has developed a Western-friendly version of an ancient method of achieving inner peace and liberation that opens conflict to understanding and care rather than encouraging struggle and alienation. She presents it in a book rich with detailed examples of how many people have transformed the demons that once plagued them, and offers hope for a world-wide paradigm shift that feeds, and ultimately turns perceived enemies to allies. Visit www.taramandala.org for more information about Tsutrim Allione and her retreat center in southwest Colorado, Tara Mandala.
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