My name is Christy Rounds. This passage is from my book, Escape Bound:

“Whether you had the perfect mother, a terrible mother, or no mother at all is irrelevant. All pale in comparison to the all-encompassing love of the One Mother.” 

These were the words that reverberated through the earth, permeating every cell in my body, at the very beginning of a ten day soul quest journey.

Moments earlier, in the high desert of the Inyo Mountains just east of the Sierra Nevadas, I’d been fighting a physical urge to drop to the ground. It felt like a hand was pressing down on my shoulder. The impulse to kneel was as strong as the urge to sneeze. Unable to resist, my legs crumpled beneath me, and I was kneeling on the ground, palms planted firmly in the dirt.

Then, the power hit me in waves, rising up through the earth, riveting my hands to the ground. My fingers felt like they were shooting out roots, anchoring me to the soil. Wave after wave of ecstasy coursed through my body as I received that message from the Earth Mother. Tears of awe and sheer bliss streamed down my face, and my throat ached from the effort of enduring a power that surpassed anything I’d ever felt.

Whether it was a spiritual birthing or dramatic form of a wake-up call, those words changed the trajectory of my life. They acted as a calling, invoking an inspiration to commune with nature in ways I never would have imagined possible.

Two years after my soul quest journey in the Sierra Nevadas, twenty-three years of marriage ended in a surprise divorce. Struggling to regain my footing, I embarked on a four month road trip covering 18,000 miles in the American West.

Escape Bound is the story of early spiritual stirrings, which later led to a profound string of supernatural encounters that left me shaken, awe-stricken and confused.

Then in a serendipitous meeting at 16,000 ft. on a mountain in Peru, I met two women who were experiencing similar events. The surreal story of our meeting is told in the video below.

The documentary “Prophecy” explores the nature of these supernatural encounters.

We are accepting donations for filming, editing and travel expenses to produce a documentary for submission to the Banff Mountain Film Festival and other film festivals. Contributions of $100 or more will be listed in the film credits.

Key Topics

As humans, we share common needs

  • We long for place and purpose, a sense of belonging, community
  • We long for authenticity, permission to be the truest version of ourselves
  • We long to be seen, accepted, and loved

And we share common questions

  • What role should we play in protecting the planet?
  • How can we know if we’re achieving what we were meant to achieve?
  • Is there some higher power? If so, what role does it play?
  • How can we connect more effectively / engage in life more deeply?

“Prophesy” explore invites us to reorient our perspectives, refine our narratives, and restore our sense of peace by

  • Identifying our collective wounds, shining light into the dark places where pain, loneliness and misalignment are hiding.
  • Reminding us to settle for nothing less than our authentic selves; to stand unwavering, unyielding and steadfast in our truth.
  • Encouraging us to create opportunities to see and be seen, in a community of belonging, acceptance, and shared experience.
  • Reminding us of the unequivocal, unconditional love of nature that is our intrinsic birthright.

Stakeholders

Production Team

  • Documentary Team Leader / Story-Teller
  • Creative Director / Cinematographer
  • Journalist / Filmmaker
  • Peruvian-based videographer

Expeditionary Retreat Team

  • 4-5 Retreat Participants
  • Peruvian shaman (plant-based medicine ceremony)
  • 2 Andean Paqos (high priests in the Andean-Inkan celestial tradition)

Subject Experts

Alex Estrada: Peru-Based Filmmaker

Alex is a Peruvian photographer, cinematographer and drone pilot who has assisted in producing documentaries for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He has also provided promotional content for Ralph Lauren and other international market leading brands,

Alex traveled to one of the most remote and spectacular regions in the Andes, the Cordillera Blanca, to film The Pou Brothers, who are professional alpinists and rock climbers from Spain, sponsored by The North Face, Red Bull, Petzl, and La Sportiva.

With advanced climbing and alpineering skills, Alex is a highly sought-after cinematographer for expeditions led by Patagonia, North Face and Red Bull sponsored athletes.

Christy Rounds: Documentary Team Leader / Story-Teller

Author of the book Escape Bound, Christy is an expeditionary trip leader who combines her passion for high altitude trekking with metaphysical inquiry. Over the past two decades Christy and her ex-husband worked in nearly every aspect outdoor industry, which provided inspiration for global travel adventures. Together, they summited Aconcogua, which at just under 23,000 feet, is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere.

After her marriage of 23 years ended, Christy did a deep dive into nature. Through an 18,000 mile road trip across the western United States, several months in the jungles and beaches of Costa Rica and Mexico, and an ascent to 17,000 feet on the Asungate trek in the Peruvian Andes, Christy received the profoundly transformative healing that nature provides.

Escape Bound’s soul-mending expeditionary retreats to Peru facilitate deep connection with nature, imbuing a sense of awe, wonder and self-illumination.