life – Personal Euphoria: Pilates & Fitness Classes in CT

Pressure to be Present

Pause for a moment. Allow yourself time to take a deep breath. Look around. Soak in the sensations of the moment. Notice thoughts and worries racing through your head.

It appears more and more common knowledge that being present is vital to our mental health and well-being. The trouble with us humans is that we have all these pesky “unwanted” thoughts. While being present is beneficial, it bothers me to think of thoughts as unwanted. Those thoughts we try to push away to be ever-present are, in part, what makes us who we are. Those worries and concerns for our lives are perhaps proof of our sanity.

At 97 my grandma has developed dementia enough that she can’t live on her own. She has good days and bad. The decline is not linear. I am not attempting to put a positive spin on dementia, but I am trying to see the positives in a sad and trying situation. My Grandma still remembers us. That may not last forever. Her dementia hasn’t made her agitated. It’s estimated that 90% of dementia patients experience aggression, agitation, and depression. She shows minimal signs of irritability. In her confusion, she looks more childlike.

Pressure to be PresentMaggie Downie2024-01-11T12:54:07-05:00

Live Longer

My Grandma inside the igloo for her 89th birthday!

My Grandma will be 92 tomorrow. She lives on her own, cooks for herself, loves the movies, and is interesting to talk to. She has moments of forgetfulness and relays a lot of stories from the past and her youth. Now and then my mom will call me to tell me she is worried my Grandma might be losing it a little. Sometimes my mom seems right and other times I say, “I do the same thing. If Grandma has dementia then I must too.”

A week after Christmas my Grandma called me to thank me for the beautiful amaryllis I’d given her for Christmas. She left a message and as I listened, I grew a little sad. I had not given her an amaryllis. Perhaps my mom was more right than I realized. Someone else deserved this thank you. Not me. It signaled that my Grandma seemed to be losing it.

Later that night when Matt arrived home, I told him about my Grandma’s message and how my mom might be onto something. “I didn’t get her an amaryllis,” I told him. “Yes, […]

Live LongerMaggie Downie2018-02-14T15:54:22-05:00

Exercise of Life

We can exercise, which I highly recommend, but it’s hard for one hour a day of exercise to unravel eight hours in a chair. Even if your day isn’t spent in a chair, however you spend most of your time will start to be reflected in your body. In addition to making specific time to move every day, considering your body in space throughout the day can help you feel better in your own skin. Check in at different moments. If your back hurts when you are doing something is there a simple change you can make to relieve the pain? If you neck hurts can you make a subtle adjustment? Exercise yes. But make movement and noticing your body during simple movement the exercise of life.

Try to notice your body in the following scenarios:

When you brush your teeth, do your shoulders crunch up to your ears?

While washing dishes does your pelvis bump up against the sink?

When you bend over to scrunch your hair, do you tuck your tailbone?

When […]

Exercise of LifeMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:49:03-05:00

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

Do You Need A Coma To Inspire You?

When I ran the Surftown Half Marathon in September I ran about a mile with a guy I’d never met. We struck up a conversation because he was thinking of doing a RagnarRelay and I was wearing a Ragnar Relay t-shirt. I’ve decided an amusing shirt is a good tool on a long run. It becomes a conversation piece. Next time I’m going to try to come up with something even better than an old Ragnar shirt.

As we chatted he told me that he had a snowboarding injury that left him in a coma. The doctors gave him a list of activities he’d never be able to do again. So he decided to prove them wrong. This year he was running a half marathon and training for a triathlon to prove he could run, swim and bike. He’d never done any of these activities prior.

After a mile, I slowed down and we parted ways, but in a brief time a man I didn’t […]

Do You Need A Coma To Inspire You?Maggie Downie2014-08-04T18:02:20-04:00