Maria Zosa, a top-ranked freediver in the The Philippines for the women's division has been freediving since 2016. Over the years, she has garnered multiple national records and helped pave the way
for the growth of freediving education in the country. She is the very first Molchanovs instructor trainer, the only Junior Freediving Instructor Trainer Developer, and the only competition freediving instructor in the country.
She is well known for her holistic approach to freediving which is influenced by her extensive years of teaching and practicing yoga.
Maria has been trained under the guidance of the worlds best and top athletes such as Alexey Molchanovs, Adam Stern and Dean Chaouche. And she continues to share this growing pool of knowledge as an Instructor Trainer and coach.
Credentials
Junior Freediving
Instructor Trainer Developer
Molchanovs Instructor Trainer
Junior Freediving Instructor Trainer Developer
Competition Freediving Instructor
Molchanovs Athlete
Sr. Yoga Teacher
Depth. Balance. Purpose
My yoga journey began in 2013. I initially enrolled in a yoga class after a lot of my friends recommended I try the practice to help improve an injured knee that I got from playing Ultimate Frisbee.
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It took a lot of convincing for me to try a class since at that time, I thought yoga was exclusively for the physically flexible.
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I did not like the first class I attended because the teacher made me bind in a very painful way. And yet, although I didn’t enjoy my first class, I noticed that my body felt better and looser.
So I decided to attend another class but with a different teacher. I joined Rachel Besa’s class and from then on, I fell in love with the practice. I fell so in love with the practice that I decided to book unlimited sessions.
I practiced every single day.
And I realized that the more I practiced, the less my knee hurt.
I also noticed that both my mind and body felt so much better and at ease, not just after every class but every single day even when I woke up and even at work.
After practicing at the same studio for three months, I decided to try another studio—Yogahub.
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It was in Yogahub that I was able to try out different yoga styles and practice with different teachers which made me learn more about yoga.
From daily practice to joining workshops, I was very much into yoga.One day, studio director Jenifer Martinez asked me if I wanted to join the upcoming 200HR yoga teacher training course. In my head, I wanted to, but I was hesitant as I knew it was expensive.
Without giving the cost so much thought, I signed up and grabbed the opportunity to deepen my practice.I finished my 200HR TTC in April 2014 and taught a few classes here and there (mostly to workmates).
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And I finished my 300HR TTC in December 2021. It was through finding my voice in teaching that I learned more about myself. I got the chance to know all sides of me.Yoga was also the key to my healing from my childhood trauma.
Yoga taught me humility, forgiveness, kindness, compassion, and generosity in ways I thought I was incapable of having.I kept practicing and teaching ever since and dreamed of being able to share how Yoga has helped me. I knew there are people like me that needed yoga in their lives too.Fast forward to today, she can slowly live that dream through Maria Zosa Freediving and Yoga.A dream she thought would be impossible to realize.
Freediving
Growing up, I spent so much time at the beach. My late grandfather owned a beach house in Danao, Cebu. My family spent weekends at the beach house to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
I could happily recall when I first learned how to swim as it was in the ocean. The big blue didn't intimidate me and it truly was a playground for me and my elder brothers.
Not only was I exposed to the ocean at an early age, but I also witnessed my Papa’s love for the ocean through scuba diving which made me fall in love with the sea early on in life.
I could vividly remember those times when I and my brothers used to chase the scuba bubbles on the surface. We even tried to follow the line the scuba divers used to guide them on their descent but of course, we couldn't go deep enough because we couldn't hold our breaths long.
Years passed and my Papa invited me to try scuba diving. It was the beginning of my immense love for the underwater world.
I then decided to do an open-water course which lead to me discovering freediving.
While doing the course, it dawned on me that there were just too many things involved in scuba diving; the planning, the technicalities, and not to mention, the heavy equipment (tank!).
So, on the last day of my course, I YouTubed “How to hold your breath in the water”! Yes, that's how I started!
After realizing that there were free diving instructors in Cebu, I signed up for proper lessons because I wanted to know more and wanted to learn how to be a safe freediver.
From freediving courses to competitions to setting and breaking national records, I fell so in love with freediving that I promised myself that I will share the beauty of the sport with as many people as I can.
And here I am, taking that leap of faith by putting myself out there. Sharing what I love and do best; teach both Freediving and Yoga.