My name is Maria Teresa Solomons

This is my Story....

Later this year I'll be doing something wild, maybe moreso for a woman my age. Some might think it impossible.

On Oct. 5th this year, which happens to be my 62nd birthday, at the AIDA Freediving Depth World Championships I'll be doing the last of my chosen 2 competition dives, one using the monofin, i.e. Constant Weight (CWT), and the other, using only my arms to pull down and up the line, i.e. (FIM).

It's been 16 years since I last competed internationally. I was freediving to 76m then. My training depth now has gained on that but nevertheless my world championship experience is minimal.

I travelled to Israel this year due to a challenging family situation, and in the middle of a heavy political environment found myself instinctively drawn back into the Red Sea, a body of water I love and where my life as a freediver began just over 30yrs ago. That sea has become my sanctuary and where my need to reconnect with the ocean revived in me the possibility of discovering the mystery of diving deep again.

Depth without Force

If you look at how most elite freedivers train, it's intense, rigorous and highly physical. It's become almost routine to see some of them pushing to depth and returning to the surface with a barotrauma of some sort, or blacking out. I believe there is another softer way. My path is the exact opposite.

Collaborating with my former partner, and visionary coach, Aharon Solomons, we train with a simple philosophy: 'Depth is NOT won by Force' . My physical in and out of water preparation is actually, incredibly gentle. It's my mental preparation that requires more tweaking.

Instead of pushing for depth, we offer the sea more respect and as an ally she reflects everything we do. The essence of our training is about letting go of resistance, both physical and mental, of dropping the ego that wants to achieve more, and to unlearn the traditional equalisation techniques most other freedivers spend hours, if not years perfecting, to allow the body to find its own way. We believe that once the human body has been conditioned and inured to pressure at depth, over a certain amount of time dedicated primarily and uniquely to 'empty-lung' dives, i.e. Residual Volume (RV) training, the innate Mammalian Dive Reflex (MDR) which we are all born with, is stimulated to awaken instantly, and starts to come to our aid immediately and completely from the moment we leave the surface and without the need for energy wasting warm-up dives. When we then return to diving with full lungs and trust the reflex we've trained shallow enough to drop any lingering fears or doubts and get out of our own way, we allow the body to remember exactly what it's known how to do, all along. We just have to let it.

I've chosen to freedive in this way because I believe it will give me everything I've been searching for, but without the struggle, and because I want to leave a legacy about the Ocean. I freedive with the intention of thanking all the waters that give us life and energy. I even collect and share water I've given that intention to so others can continue to share on adding their own intention to it, which I'm happy to share with you. On a more down to earth level my training and competing on the world stage is to give my absolute all, to be a voice for the Ocean and to introduce a way to connect with her that will revolutionise how freediving moves into the future.

Tuning in to the Sea

I'm not here to break a world record. I'm training with a purpose, to show how freediving to depth is about 'surrender', where age isn't a limitation and how strong you think you have to make the body, becomes a thing of the past. I want to show that winning is entirely about the journey and not the goal depth, and whether I touch the base plate or turn early, the statement is about acceptance.

I believe a successful freedive comes with humility. For me, that enables me to find enough silence to tune in to the vibration of the ocean. Quantum science is proving that water has a Consciousness, which, when given an intention, becomes 'structured' water and as such, exists in and can influence every cell of our bodies as well as the plasma in every living organism. To me, that suggests that how I move into and through the water space and the thoughts I take into the deep, really matter. In my experience my best freedives are when I've left the surface and can dive with an open heart - where curiosity and gratitude, over fear, are the keys that unlock the way.

I chose as my logo, which is printed on the back of my wetsuit, the open rather than the closed form of the Japanese symbol, 'ensō', painted using a fast and fluid brushstroke, that lets whatever shape be. It intrigues me because it's spontaneously rough and broken but represents progress towards perfection through imperfection. It's a simple reminder to me that at any point in moving towards my goal, I'll make mistakes, will learn from them, and that that's ok too. There's beauty in that.

How You can support me

Getting to the World Championships takes a team, determination and for me, a reason bigger than just myself. The decision to attend, and the circumstances that brought me to Israel haven't make it any the easier.

I'm looking for financial support to help cover my trip expenses, to get here from my home in Mexico, and then to Cyprus, accommodation, pre-competition and competition costs; basically, all the logistics involved in keeping myself strong and balanced till the end of the competition.

More than that, in supporting me, you'd be joining me as part of my team in showing the world that the mind, spirit and our connection with the sea is much deeper than just a physical number on a line. Life has many doors and we're here to discover how many we can open. I happen to believe that I'm a key to some of those that exist in the Ocean.

Thankyou so much for reading this to the end, for your support, and for believing in my journey.