Team Bios
Venerable Nick Santacitto
Venerable Nick, previously a practicing psychotherapist, has been ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk in Thailand since 2018. His YouTube and other content captures his unique perspective by interweaving the tools of the mental health field and Buddhist wisdom into simple and practical guides to healing.
Venerable Nick has acquired a diverse range of professional experience from spending over a decade in the mental health field including but not limited to: being the lead clinician at a foster home for over 100 kids aged 12-18, being a program therapist at a drug treatment center in Malibu, California, being a bereavement counselor at a hospice, and being the founder and owner of his private practice True Nature Counseling Center in San Diego, California.
However, at the pinnacle of his professional success, Venerable Nick left it all behind to become a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He wanted to delve deeper into his own healing and become a more refined practitioner of the tools that he was teaching. It is his highest mission to share this knowledge with others in order to help them discover their true nature and live their most authentic lives.
Venerable Michael Viradhammo
After discovering the healing power of Buddhism and meditation, Venerable Michael decided to abandon material pursuits, paid back his loans, and left his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to become a Theravada Buddhist monk in Thailand where he has been ordained since 2017. Since then, Venerable Michael has helped with teaching meditation and wisdom to thousands of travelers at the Pa Pae Meditation retreat in Chiang Mai as well as teaching and mentoring men who become a monk with the international ordination program.
He is also an avid writer and spearheads all writing projects including the books, quote cards, and other communications co-managed by Venerable Nick. He is also making many other wisdom resources, running events and retreats, and traveling the world with Venerable Nick on a shared mission to bridge mental health with spiritual health. Venerable Michael is deeply dedicated to continuous spiritual cultivation, aligning his life with wisdom and truth, and helping others do the same.
Nolan Pokpongkiat
Nolan has pushed forward the mission in many ways including but not limited to: creating Simply Stretch - our online guided yoga library (coming soon), technical and product design for L.I.G.H.T. House Retreats and Simply Still, emceeing and guiding mindful movement at candle light meditation events, and much, much more. His B.S. of Computer Science from Berkeley, years of tech industry experience, yoga teacher certifications, and shared values of practicing and promoting the healing guidance from both eastern traditions and the mental health field(among other things) allows him to play a wide array of important roles and collaborate synergistically with Ven. Nick and Ven. Michael to co-create projects and bring them to life in ways far beyond the monks’ personal capabilities.
He often joins the monks on their travels and assists them in whatever way is needed while bringing an amazing energy to every group they seek to serve. The generosity of his time, energy, kindness, and skills has allowed the practical wisdom of the monks and his own expertise in mindful movement to reach, resonate with, and help a much broader audience.