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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.
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Reflecting on Valentine’s Day

Okay, I think for the past fifteen years I may have been looking at Valentine’s Day the wrong way. I don’t like the day. I think it puts pressure on relationships; I think it makes single people feel awful; and I think it advocates wasting money.

But then a friend was telling me about how she was just giving little gifts to people who had been really helpful to her this year and she wanted to let them know that she appreciated it. Last year a couple of people put together little care packages or gave me a flower, and it was so nice. I didn’t expect anything from anyone so each little surprise was a pleasant treat throughout the day, especially the cupcakes one of our neighbors left at our door.

Being thought of felt nice. So I think maybe that is the way to look at V-Day–A time to send a card or put a little something together for anyone you love and care for. I hope to think of […]

Reflecting on Valentine’s Day2017-09-12T19:34:29-04:00

Inspiration

I have a friend who often tells me that my blogs or Facebook posts motivate her to be healthier or to get to the gym.  That makes me happy.  In my career, getting to hear that you motivate people is some of the best news you can get.

But it’s important to know that everyone I work with motivates me too. 

On a very obvious level, as a Pilates instructor I generally think it’s important to stay healthy and active in order to physically be able to do my job and to stay fit.  But when I have a client trying a new activity for the first time, they remind me everything there is to try and experience out there.  When I have a client who eats healthier than I do (which is probably many), I feel like I should be more like them.  They set a good example for me.  When a client has been struggling with an exercise for a long time and they finally get […]
Inspiration2017-10-25T14:30:12-04:00

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 Nothing2017-09-12T19:34:29-04:00

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 Game2014-08-04T18:02:17-04:00

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 Gongs2017-09-12T19:34:29-04:00
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