Mitchell travelled from the east coast to the west after finishing college to be a student at San Francisco Zen Center in 1977. He was a resident at the city center and later at Green Gulch Farm until 1987. After returning to school to complete graduate studies at UC Berkeley in 1990, he established a career as a fluvial geomorphologist restoring rivers throughout California. Mitchell met Kwong-roshi in 2008 and received jukai a year later. He currently resides with his wife in Sonoma Valley at the foot of Sonoma Mountain.