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.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

My Grandma at 88 on a Stability Ball.

Life and age can alter our perspective. Years ago when my grandma was in her eighties, she hired a man to paint her house. When talking to my mom, she would say that the “kid” kept taking breaks while he painted. My mom pictured a kid slacking off, but then one day she was at my grandma’s house when the painter was there and the “kid” was in his sixties. He may have thought or felt old, but my grandma, twenty years his elder, didn’t see it that way.

Recently, I was asking my grandma questions about her life. One question was, “Who would you most like to have for dinner?” Her response was, “Right who I have now. My family.” What is so spectacularly wonderful about that comment is that she actually has exactly what she wants.

When I responded to the same question, I wanted Mark Twain, Ben Franklin, or one of my dead ancestors that I never got to meet. The people I would like to host will never come to dinner at my house. My instinct was to reach for impossibility, […]

Guess Who’s Coming to DinnerMaggie Downie2018-05-04T16:30:03-04:00

Plank Story: Electric Scooters

I prefer activities like Pilates, hiking, walking, and running—moves that keep both my feet on the ground. Still, when we were recently in Indianapolis, I was intrigued by the electric scooters escorting people all over the city.

Matt downloaded the scooter app, and we tried to get our first scooter. It beeped and lit up like it was on, but we couldn’t get it to go so we tried another one. It said the battery was dead. A third attempt failed just like the first and we found another with a dead battery. Frustrated, we realized perhaps part of the problem was us and not the scooters. We googled how to operate the scooter. For those that were working, you can’t just get on and press “Go.” You have to get them started under your own power and then press, “Go.”

Our next challenge would be trying to use one app to ride. Matt had downloaded the app. I had not. So he’d start a scooter up for me. I’d get going and then he’d start one for himself and mine would stop. It appears you can’t use one app to ride two […]

Plank Story: Electric ScootersMaggie Downie2018-10-08T18:22:32-04:00

Dedicated

My grandma balancing on my stability ball a few years ago.

Keep Moving is dedicated to my grandmas. My grandparents have always been a huge part of my life. I was lucky enough to know all four of my grandparents and two of my great-grandparents. Many of them I knew well. Throughout my life, I grew up listening to the stories of their lives, seeing them enjoy retirement, and learning that getting older doesn’t have to be scary. As they aged they had full lives complete with travel, family, and friends.

I owe a lot of who I am to these people who shaped me and played a significant role in my upbringing. It’s one of the many reasons that I dedicated Keep Moving: Take Steps to Relieve Pain & Improve Your Life to my grandmas. In different ways their examples are part of the reason that I move and love physical activity so much.

My Grandmas

Grandma Downie

One of my grandmas did not move and her life was cut short in a family filled with longevity. This is not a judgment of her […]

DedicatedMaggie Downie2018-10-21T19:57:35-04:00

Talk to your doctor about getting an MRI

I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on TV. Ultimately, the main messaging of this blog is that if you have certain types of pain, you should talk to your doctor about getting an MRI sooner rather than later.

Anecdotally, I find that the clients I work with get so much helpful information from an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Information that seems to help the course of action at physical therapy, or improve accuracy of cortisone shots, or the realization that the injury likely requires surgery or sometimes a simple procedure to resolve a problem.

Yet for some reason, also anecdotally, I find that my clients will be in pain for months and see multiple doctors before getting an MRI. According to the FDA, adverse side effects are rare, so I wondered why more people aren’t getting them. If MRI’s seem to provide so much useful info, what’s the delay in prescribing them?

MRI’s are expensive procedures. On average an MRI costs $2,611. The machines themselves can cost over $3-million, not including what it costs to outfit the room to be able to host an MRI machine. That is a […]

Talk to your doctor about getting an MRIMaggie Downie2018-10-08T17:58:22-04:00

Instructor Highlight Kathleen

Kathleen is one currently subbing for PE for yoga classes. We hope to bring her on for some regular classes of her own soon! Here’s Kathleen’s instructor highlight.

Get to know Kathleen:

When you aren’t teaching what are some of your favorite ways to move?

Hiking and playing with my dog.

What song motivates or picks you up the most?

Follow the Sun by Xavier Rudd.

Favorite Food?

Sweet Potatoes

Time you normally crawl into bed?

10pm

What skill would you like to master?

Playing the guitar.

What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

Camping out in national parks!

Favorite season? Why?

Fall—the variety of warm and cool weather, the foliage colors, and NO bugs!

Best advice you’ve ever gotten?

Life is serious. Don’t take it too seriously.

Instructor Highlight KathleenMaggie Downie2018-03-21T15:45:07-04:00

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