First Red Flags and Portraits of Devotion

In Part 1 of this conversation with stand-up comedian and former Tara Mandala practitioner Sofia May, she joins us to talk about how a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in the Colorado mountains—founded by western author lama Tsultrim Allione—slowly revealed a deeply culty underbelly beneath the goddess imagery and tantric empowerment language. Sofia traces her path from sincere Buddhist seeker to close student of lama Tsultrim inside Tara Mandala’s residential community. She describes the powerful draw of the center’s practices, trauma‑informed branding, and female‑centered spirituality, and how all that coexisted with secrecy, hierarchy, and a guru culture where doubt was pathologized and obedience was framed as devotion.

We also get into the day‑to‑day dynamics at Tara Mandala—pressure to attend costly retreats and trainings, complex power plays in teacher–student relationships, and how survivors are now comparing notes about gaslighting, spiritual bypassing, and psychological harm in a place that promised healing above all. You’ll want to read the article in Guru Magazine in which Sofia May first shared her experience, and stay tuned for Part 2.

And be sure to follow Sofia May’s comedy journey on Instagram or TikTok @sofiamaycomedy.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of sexual abuse and violence, spiritual and psychological abuse, financial and labor exploitation misogyny and boundary violations, and trauma.

Also…let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

**PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's newest book here

Check out our amazing sponsors

Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources

Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Audio production: Will Retherford

Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore

Writer: Sandra Nomoto

Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.