Santacitta Bhikkhuni was born in Austria and did her graduate studies in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on dance, theatre and ritual. She also worked in avant-garde dance theatre as a performer and costume designer. In 1988 she met Ajahn Buddhadasa in southern Thailand, who sparked her interest in Buddhist monastic life. She trained as a nun in England and Asia from 1993 until 2009, primarily in the lineage of Ajahn Chah and has also received teachings in the Shechen lineage of Tibetan Buddhism since 2002.
Santacitta Bhikkhuni co-founded Aloka Vihara in 2009 and received Bhikkhuni Ordination in 2011. She is committed to Gaia as a living being and resides as senior weaver at Aloka Earth Room, currently located in San Rafael, CA.
Events with Ayya Santacitta
New Year's Retreat: Weaving Ancient and New Ways of BeingDecember 28, 2025 - January 3, 2026
This retreat welcomes both beginners and experienced meditators. Registration for this retreat closes on December 21st, 2025 at 11:59pm Pacific Time. If looking to join after this date, please inquire at guestservices@bigbearretreatcenter.org. During this retreat we will come together in community to support each other in consciously letting go of the past and opening to the New Year from a place of stability, ease and the inner freedom we find in deepening our practice. In these uncertain times, old cultural narratives are dissolving and we are called to navigate the world differently. The Four Protective Meditations offer us protection from…
Exploring & Reframing Our Sense of Being [Online]May 31 - June 21, 2026
Open to experienced and new practitioners Registration closes on May 30, 2026. If joining after this date, please contact us. With Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as our guides, this series explores re-cognizing and re-membering ourselves as part of a living, intelligent Earth and cosmos. By practicing to know ourselves differently, we uncover a sense of reverence for the Web of Life that opens us to the sacred, self-regenerative capacity of the biosphere we belong to. Changing from the ground up rather than from the head down will inform our ways of showing up in the world. In these four sessions…