Maggie Downie, Author at Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

About Maggie Downie

Thank you for giving your time to stop and read my blog. I hope it encourages you to keep moving. Move and the body will be happier. And when you're moving you can hike, run, swim in Jell-O, race over non-Newtonian fluids, travel the world or build igloos--if that's your thing. If not, you can watch me do it. This is just a spot to try and feel good about life.

Relax & Do Nothing

How nice it is to do nothing and relax afterwards.—Spanish Proverb

Not long ago in a yoga class, the instructor recited these words. They struck a chord with me, especially since I’ve been working on trying to be okay with relaxing and needing to rest. I wondered if I would ever get to a point where I was completely okay with doing nothing and resting afterwards.

Even as I write this there is a voice in my head that says, “That’s obviously not okay. Things need to get done.” And it’s not that I am incapable of doing nothing. I’ve gone away for the week to the beach. Although even there I usually run or read. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever do nothing.

I guess I’m just still learning and working on finding balance in life. For the first time in my […]

Relax & Do NothingMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:34:29-04:00

Mission Impossible Laser Game

I totally forgot to mention that in December Matt and I went to San Antonio, Texas where we discovered the BEST game ever. It’s a laser game where your job is to get through a room of lasers—from one side to the other—without ever touching any lasers. You feel like you’re in Mission Impossible, partly because they are playing music from the movie.

You lose points if you hit a laser. Once you are through the room you can pick a more challenging level or try to beat your own time.

We were lucky to be the only people there so we could just keep playing the game over and over. Matt would go, I would, etc. for an hour and a half.

It was a reminder that games can be exercise and exercise can be fun. I like to exercise so I don’t always need that reminder. Still, I didn’t realize I was getting a workout until I […]

Mission Impossible Laser GameMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:17-04:00

Meditative Gongs

Last week some of the PE staff went to a meditative gong concert at the Conduit Center in East Hartford. I’d been wanting to try it for months, but all day, I kind of felt like it was going to be lame and that I really didn’t want to meditate for 90-minutes. How was the girl whose record meditation is 45-seconds going to lie there for 5,400-seconds? That’s a lot more seconds.

Then I walked into the building, went up the stairs and immediately felt good. I saw the familiar faces of our staff and was hit with the feeling of warmth and comfort. Granted it was 30-degrees outside and they had the heat cranking, but they had the heat cranking and it warmed the cockles of my heart. They had me at heat.

The room had an option for chairs or lying down with blankets. I went for the floor and colorful […]

Meditative GongsMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:34:29-04:00

Thanksgiving Goes Gluten Free

This year after a small debate I stayed G-Free for Thanksgiving. I thought I would hate it and while I’ll admit I took an long sniff of the stuffing (my favorite part of a Turkey Day feast) as I passed it to my Grandma, it really wasn’t that hard.

I could eat everything except stuffing, gravy, pie and cornbread. That might seem like a lot, but what it means is that I got turkey, turnips, carrots, peas, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. It was a delicious meal. And here is the best thing about being G-Free on Thanksgiving: I was never stuffed. Normally at the end of Thanksgiving I’m so full I feel sick. This year I didn’t stuff myself with three pieces of pie and extra stuffing so I never felt that full.

That really made it worth it. At the end of Thanksgiving I always regret how much I’ve eaten. It was really nice not to this year. I wish I could just have […]

Thanksgiving Goes Gluten FreeMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:34:30-04:00

Gluten Free Not Getting Easier

We celebrated birthdays at my Grandma’s house the other day. Celebrations always seem to involve food. Dinner is fairly easy to make gluten free. Provide a meat, veggie, and potato and you’re all set. Dessert is a whole other story. I felt a little sad when my mom’s favorite carrot cake came out and I knew I couldn’t have any. My grandma had gone to the trouble to make me a gluten-free cherry cobbler. It was nice to have something for dessert, but I find that gluten-free desserts tend to lodge in your stomach like a lead brick where they linger for hours.

Some days it’s hard to know that there are things you just can’t eat. Occasionally I drive by Dunkin Donuts and I just want to grab something quick. It feels like the rest of the world (or at least the rest of New England) can do it. I tell myself that it’s probably better this way. There is not benefit or reason for me […]

Gluten Free Not Getting EasierMaggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:19-04:00

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