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.

Five Years: Thanks to Our Instructors

This month marks Personal Euphoria’s fifth birthday. It’s an accomplishment I’m quite proud of especially since we’ve been brining Pilates to people through one of the worst economies in the history of our country.

I couldn’t have done it alone. For one thing if I didn’t have such wonderful clients I wouldn’t love my job as much as I do. And if I didn’t have the great team of instructors, not only would Personal Euphoria not have as many fun clients, but my life would be less rewarding. So I want to use this blog to say a couple nice words about all our current instructors. None of these ladies can be summed up in a sentence or two, but I’ll try. And if you take one of their classes, please feel free to add to this list of what makes these women fantastic.

Jeannine—was the first instructor to join Personal Euphoria. She gave me the […]

Five Years: Thanks to Our InstructorsMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:29-04:00

Goals: Jacob’s Ladder

Having goals are important to help you stick to a healthy lifestyle, but it’s not just about being healthy—goals (no matter what their size) can help get us excited about life. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always wanted to be able to climb a Jacob’s Ladder. So this year when I went to a Ren Faire in Sterling, New York with Matt and my brother, I tried it out.

The guy told me I’d only have a shot if I kept my body low and pulled myself up. He was right. The first time I flipped right off. The second time I made it all the way to the top, but as much as I stretched I couldn’t quite reach the bell. So the third time, when I made it up again, the guy came up behind and made the bell swing, as it got closer to my short little body I reached out and dinged it. Success (with a little […]

Goals: Jacob’s LadderMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:29-04:00

Belly Dancing

Four times a year, the Personal Euphoria staff tries to get together and try something physical that isn’t Pilates. This time we tried belly dancing. I was really looking forward it because my Grandma has often told me stories of the time she took belly dancing classes. They used cues like, “dust the stool,” “figure eights,” and “Tarzan-Jane, Tarzan-Jane.” They are pretty self explanatory. In the first you pretend you are dusting a stool with your butt. The second you circle your hips making a figure eight shape, and finally you pull your breast bone in and then stick your chest out to depict the clear different between Tarzan and Jane.

The class was even better than I expected. It was hard to do right, but fun even when I was screwing up (which was a regular occurrence). Shalimar was a wonderful teacher. She explained the moves well and was encouraging. Years […]

Belly DancingMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:29-04:00

Free Pilates in Wethersfield

I always love our mini outdoor session of Pilates. I’ll admit I’m a sucker for Old Wethersfield—a spectacular place to spend time. This year so far we’ve had a great turn out. Thanks to everyone who has made it so far. Remember—we have one more class this Saturday. Hope we get to meet you there.

Details:

Wethersfield Broad Street Green (CT)

8-8:45am
Bring a mat, hat, sunglasses, and water

And consider saving time for a walk afterward or breakfast at Aroma Bistro. Or come back for lunch at Lucky Louie’s followed by ice cream at the Wethersfield Creamery. The Cove Deli it also a great place for sandwiches and salads, all of which have fun names.

Personal Euphoria

Free Pilates in WethersfieldMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:29-04:00

The Bee Sting

Matt thought we were just going to feed the bees so he’d only collected a little material for smoking. My plan was to pull out multiple frames, look for the queen, check to see that the frames were full with brood or honey and decide whether to add the first honey super. Our bees are jam packed into the hive like I’ve never seen before. They are clearly doing well. But, since I hadn’t communicated my plan to Matt, we ran out of smoke after feeding and checking one heavy-with-honey filled frame, and we opted to close the hive.

I’d taken off my gloves and netted face mask when I realized we needed to change the entrance reducer. When you first get the bees you block off most of the entrance to the hive, so that unwanted critters don’t get in and so that the new bees, busy trying to grow don’t have to protect such a large opening.

The Bee StingMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:30-04:00

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