(Article and photos by Alexa Firmenich // Embraer Advantage Magazine // March 2019)

Atlas Unbound brings travelers together to discover Mexico’s extraordinary landscapes with a dedication to bring people back into the wild…

Picture yourself slowly waking up to the sound of a crackling fire and howler monkeys, the sighing of a breeze in the tree boughs and the smell of freshly ground coffee drifting into your tent. You emerge, the thick canopy of the Mayan jungle suspended overhead. Or perhaps you are perched on your trekking poles above a sweeping canyon, gazing far into the folds of the Earth, where crevasses jagged and eternal stretch as far as the eye can see. There is a rapture in the pathless woods, as Lord Byron once wrote, and indeed, rapture and even a pathless wood are becoming harder and harder to come by in our modern age.

We are currently living the Anthropocene, a time of unparalleled influence of human activity on the face of the Earth. It is a fascinating time to be alive. It is also perhaps one of the most treacherous. Ever more connected through our handheld devices and streamlined lifestyles, we are now less in touch with other forms of connection just as essential for our intrinsic well-being. Our lack of intimate relationship with nature and the vast landscapes and creatures that exist beyond daily existence limit our experiences of rapture and leave us feeling somewhat perturbed, if not isolated.

As we fly across continents there is always a moment of suspension between worlds; we gaze out of the plane window, spellbound at the contours of mountain ranges, the fractal forms of river beds, cloud cover over dense rainforests and sensuous fjords. Sometimes we yearn to be down there in the midst of it all, not just passing by. This desire lies deep within all of us—it is quite literally encoded in our evolutionary genetic make-up.

Atlas Unbound was created to bring participants back into that place of wonder and connection. The Mexico-based company brings global leaders, change-makers, creative mavericks and executives on innovation quests deep into the wilderness, to be immersed within and learn from the wisdom of nature’s systems, asking sticky questions and animating conversations relating to regenerative futures and sustainable practices. Their learning journeys are geared towards those who are curious about what lies beyond the veil, what parts of themselves can be brought out into life, challenged, invigorated and inspired.

The transformational travel industry is booming. More executives than ever are acknowledging the need to take time away from their desks in favor of greater balance and wisdom, seeking an antidote to the ceaseless treadmill of daily life. In this context, going back into nature can be one of the most powerful tools out there; it is a mirror into our own systems, a template of billions of years of resilience and evolution. To quote Albert Einstein: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

There are two kinds of journeys that Atlas Unbound offers. The first is a curated group experience of hand-picked individuals from all walks of life (the CEO of a Fortune 500 company may well be rubbing shoulders with an emerging climate leader) and often facilitated by the company’s founders Alexa Firmenich and Siobhan Brewster. Group size is kept intimate to around 12 participants, and the price per person ranges at USD 3,000 and above for three to five days. Their journeys venture deep into sublime landscapes and explore living dynamics, integrating elements of nature reconnection, leadership work and ancient and indigenous knowledge.

Then there are journeys geared towards executive teams and corporations. Well beyond the realm of a traditional offsite, here, the emphasis is placed on learning from intelligent living systems and complexity thinking, understanding how universal patterns and principles of nature—abundance, flow, emergence and resilience, for example—can be applied back to individual and collective sense- making.

Some readers may indeed have already have come across such biomimetic strategies. How are we to align with the natural intelligence that is conducive to the long-term flourishing of life? What kinds of businesses and evolutionary leadership skills should we cultivate for the world of tomorrow? And actually, what does a regenerative business and mindset even look like? Inspiration from the living world abounds, such as in the intricacy of forests’ decentralized mycelium root networks or the closed- loop feedback systems of coastal mangroves.

Atlas Unbound helps participants identify such examples within nature and considers their practical application as an exercise in moving beyond our wasteful economy. Siobhan worked for many years in infrastructure and energy, struggling with the lack of concern for our greater ecosystem: “If we cannot understand the interconnectedness of our actions and processes, we will find it impossible to commercialize sustainability and regenerative practices on the scale necessary to meet the demands of tomorrow.”

There is an additional, and important, layer to this. “Mindfulness has become the word on everybody’s lips today; an endless array of meditation apps, fitness regimes and bio-hacks populate our inboxes. This is excellent, but it can also miss the mark. Increased ‘mindfulness’ is also a state of being that goes far beyond the art of de- stressing and workplace optimization. It is a fundamental recognition of our human role on the planet and thus our relationship with other forms of life.”

Swiss-born Alexa Firmenich, whose experiences in the world of climate change fueled her passion to co-found Atlas Unbound, tells us, “We need to experience things in order to truly care about protecting them. We cannot care about that which we do not know. Nature conveys a profound message—that we are always in relationship with it. In the wild, one can go beyond the mind and truly embody teachings about impermanence, regeneration, stillness and self-discovery.”

Atlas Unbound’s experiences range from the sweeping canyons of the Barrancas del Cobre in Northern Mexico, home to the native Tarahumara tribe, all the way to the southern jungles of Chiapas, where ancient Mayan temples lie submerged above secret lakes. Their Baja California journey explores the power of contrasts and brings participants from the ochre- red deserts to the glimmering Mar de Cortez to glamp on desert islands.

Accommodations and immersions vary journey by journey, and by the careful curation of the group’s collective intentions. Every participant must have an interview with one of the co-founders in order to attend. Their current journeys are centered around Mexico and Central America, with emerging locations planned further afield for the coming year. As their motto goes: “Embrace the thrill of the unknown.”