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.

Secrets from a Pilates Instructor: I Just Make It Look Easy

Exercise isn’t easy. I am capable of doing advanced Pilates exercises (some, anyway, there are still some I haven’t conquered). Yet when I go to a beginner Pilates class, I find the exercises challenging. That speaks to how difficult Pilates can be. I often hear from clients that I make an exercise look easy. Trust me when I tell you it’s not easy. Here’s how I can pull off making something look easy:

You were never trained to see how I’m screwing up. That means I can make all sorts of errors and you’ll never know. Because trust me, when I take a class, I still need the reminder to engage my abs or legs. I need correction as much as you.
If I’m going to demonstrate something in front of the class, I know which side I’m stronger on to give you the best view. I’m not trying to hoodwink you, but it’s my job to try and show you proper form, so I try to give the best form I’ve got.
If I stay down on the mat for a few reps, I’m not giving it all I’ve got the way you are. When I’m teaching it’s not my workout. I’m […]

Secrets from a Pilates Instructor: I Just Make It Look EasyMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:12-04:00

Movement is Maintenance

Body vs. Machine

Your body is not your car. You can bring it in for regular checkups, but you can’t replace the parts anytime you want. And if you need to and the part is available, it might be VERY, VERY expensive.

So do some regular maintenance (code for movement) and help your body feel better and last longer.

Movement is MaintenanceMaggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:42-04:00

Dinosaurs Didn’t Drag Tails

Just Say NO to Tailbone Tucking!

Dinosaurs didn’t drag their tails and neither should you. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure when I was a child pictures of dinosaurs depicted their tails on the ground. Even the T-Rex was pretty upright with a tail on the ground. But it turns out, dino tails didn’t drag. At least one of the reasons science now leans this way is because for all the dinosaur tracks out there, they haven’t found a lot of tail drags. It doesn’t seem too hard to believe. Dogs and cats don’t drag their tails on the ground.

But we shouldn’t drag our tails either. Now, we don’t have tails, but we do tend to tuck our tailbone under, especially when we sit at a desk all day or drive in a car. Even when we stand many of us push our pelvis forward in space, ultimately tucking our tailbone—an unhealthy position for our low back, hip flexors and pelvic floor. So next time you’re sitting down, or if you are sitting now, try to untuck your tail bone and sit up […]

Dinosaurs Didn’t Drag TailsMaggie Downie2017-09-12T19:31:12-04:00

Chill Out for Better Results…It’s Not All or Nothing

The barefoot running movement got a pretty bad reputation because anecdotally lots of people got hurt barefoot running. If I got seriously injured doing something I attempted to do for my health, I’d stop too. If I loved running before I altered the way I did it and hated it now, I go back to my old ways. It makes sense.

One of my friends tore both his Achilles tendons running with minimalist shoes. But what he did and what many barefoot runners did was push too much too fast. The barefoot running movement and the makers of minimalist shoes all said if you want to make this change you have to start slow—really slow. Go too fast and you’ll get hurt. Taking on more than we are ready for is a major reason people new to exercise stop moving. They work too hard in a hope to get quick results, get hurt and don’t want to continue. Some people associate exercise with pain and getting hurt. That’s always been their experience. Moving doesn’t have to hurt, and should NEVER hurt in a “bad” way. The concept of no pain no gain has been disproved, but it is a really hard […]

Chill Out for Better Results…It’s Not All or NothingMaggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:49-04:00

89-Year-Old Grandma Crawls Inside Igloo

My Grandma turned 89 in February. A couple months ago we went shopping for a new pair of slippers. She balanced on one foot while untying her shoe, slid her foot out of her shoe and into the slipper. She may have held my hand through the process, but her balance was impeccable. And this is a woman who had polio as a child. Her legs are two different lengths. There was a point in her life when all her leg muscles had atrophied after spending months strapped to a wooden board, immobilized.

Ruth at 89 outside the Igloo

Still, it came as no surprise when she announced that for her 89^th birthday she wanted to see the igloo we had built, and she even wanted to go inside. You had to crawl to get in. My mom suggested we could lay down a tarp and pull her in if Ruth inside the igloo!

she couldn’t get in on her own. I’m not sure when something turns from fun game with Grandma to elder […]

89-Year-Old Grandma Crawls Inside IglooMaggie Downie2017-10-25T15:59:36-04:00

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