Jane Zimmerman is our yoga guru. Originally from London, Jane now lives in the South of Spain, about 30 minutes from Granada, in a beautiful mountain village. She has been providing massage, yoga and holistic services at New You Escapes around the world since July 2018.

Jane’s Outlook On Yoga and New You Escapes

“It makes sense to have yoga on a New You Escape holiday as it balances the fitness and weight loss part of the week, providing more relaxation and mindfulness. It also works the body’s tissues in a different and complimentary way. A typical yoga environment is often pretty serious and exclusive; although yoga can be a very deep practice, I don’t take myself or yoga too seriously. In my sessions you work hard, relax hard and have fun which all helps you to feel balanced, energised and calm, and starts to soften the division between your mind, body and your emotions. One of the most important things about yoga is it often improves our relationship with ourselves, and from there our relationship with everyone else. If you are too serious then you lose the joy factor. It’s got to be joyous or else it will be a chore, and if it’s a chore, you are going to drop it sooner or later.

I am passionate about yoga, but I also do a lot of dancing and other bodywork, as well as women’s empowerment workshops and personal development coaching. All that experience and my age help me to be able to offer an accessible version of yoga, good for both newcomers and experienced yogis. Everyone is different. Some of us have a visual mind and will respond well to a visual relaxation, some respond better to sounds, so in my classes I use a lot of varied themes. I try to always make the intention of the class clear, and always make it achievable for everyone, whether you can touch your toes or not.”

Yoga isn’t for everyone, but I remember a standout moment when Dave – one of New You’s personal trainers – tried one of my Yin Yoga sessions which works your deep connective tissues. If there is a physical injury or any mental or emotional trauma trapped in your deep tissues, you can only release it by working directly on those tissues through passive long-held postures.

Dave through the nature of his work is very muscly. Lots of muscle tone means that you do not have as much mobility, so Yin Yoga can be very challenging for someone like him. During the first three poses Dave was joking away. He’s a funny guy! By the fourth one the joking stopped, and I’d never seen him so quiet. He just got into it and now has a deeper understanding of how it can work in tandem to a fitness or weight loss goal.

At the last retreat of 2019 in Morocco, set in the magical Atlas Mountains, there were so many unforgettable moments! It is such a beautiful environment, and everyone in the group was able to let go of their day-to-day worries and become more confident, stronger and softer at the same time.

One of many memorable moments I have was from the last yoga and hiking holiday. There was a lovely lady in the group. She had recently retired from her business, had worked hard all her life and was really looking for a new direction in life. During the week, we did a little bit of massage in pairs and she realised then that massage was what she wanted to do! She decided she was going to train as a massage therapist as soon as she got back home. It felt so wonderful to see a new horizon blossom.

New You Escapes has the balance between hard work and fun, empathy and encouragement spot on. For some people it can be an emotional week, with moments of enlightenment and self-discovery. For me, our amazing capacity to transform ourselves, to be able to use life’s difficulties as a way to become bigger, better versions of ourselves, focusing on joy, being positive, and having fun, is what New You is all about.”