Ajahn Santacitta was born in Austria in 1958. After graduating in hotel management she studied cultural anthropology at Vienna University and worked in avant- garde dance theatre as a performer and costume designer. From 1981-85 she was part of the ‘Serapions Theater’ ensemble based in Vienna and toured mainly in Europe. Beginning in the 1980’s, she was a founding member of a community of ecologists, artists and social workers near Vienna, which is still thriving today.