Books

“Go into the world and do well, but more importantly go into the world and do good”- Minor Meyers.

The Do Good Movement was created by Erin Stevenson with the focus of educating people of all ages of the power of yoga on and off the mat; doing good for you while doing good for others.

While growing up, Erin’s mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a neurological disease that ultimately impacts the way the brain communicates to the rest of the body. It wasn’t until Erin was in college at Illinois State University studying public relations, that her mother truly started to show symptoms of MS. The year of 2006 Erin’s mother had a major relapse which caused her to be hospitalized for steroid treatment and observation. During this time, Erin decided she wanted to play a bigger role in her mom’s care of this disease and wanted to do something NOW.

When she returned to school and during the time of the growth of Facebook, Erin jumped onto the social media platform and created a support group called “End MS” where people could come to share information about the disease, tips and tricks that work for them and be a support system for one another. The summers of 2006 and 2007 Erin interned for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and in the Fall of 2008 after graduating from Illinois State University Erin got her first real job working as the Event Coordinator for Bike MS at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Chicago.

One year later in 2009 Erin’s life turned upside down. While riding in a 100 mile bike ride to help her understand her audience of cyclists who participate in Bike MS, Erin started to experience blurred vision. It was as if the room and the world around her could stop moving blurred vision. The week following the bike ride, Erin went to her primary doctor to get her vision and illness checked out. After being told that it was vertigo and that there were most likely no connection to her mother’s MS diagnosis, Erin went to an eye doctor. After the eye doctor cleared Erin with perfect vision she went back to her primary doctor and demanded an MRI. She had a gut feeling that this was more than just vertigo. On July 3rd 2009, Erin was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. That following October, Erin’s father had his first stoke which ultimately led to an Alzheimer diagnoses. The world around her was starting to crumble apart.

During the next three years illnesses seemed to be a regular occurrence in her family. In June of 2011 Erin’s mother was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. Not knowing what to do Erin came into yoga after running a marathon and getting an injury that fall of 2011. She had fallen in love with it and had helped her not only recover from injury but assisted with keeping her MS at bay and mentally deal with the stress and sadness of her ailing parents. Shortly after Erin’s mother’s cancer diagnosis Erin took a leave of absence from work to care for her parents. The following year in 2012, both her parents passed away six months from one another. Her father in February and her mother in August. Her world as she once knew it was over and was time to pick up the pieces and find a new normal.

The following year in 2013, Erin married her now husband and moved to the Southside of Chicago. Trying to create a new normal she struggled going back to the National MS Society where she had originally gone to support her mother. While caring for her mother, Erin’s mom said something that was so profound during the final week of her life. She said after years and decades dedicated to a career, that is not what is sitting next to her on her bed… Erin was. Family is what mattered. That was the driving force as soon as Erin found out she was going to be a mom, she wanted to be a mom to her children and with her children as much as possible. Erin believed that a career as a yoga instructor was just the ticket to do that.

After having her daughter on March 27, 2016 and being on maternity leave, Erin finally called her boss at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and informed her that she wouldn’t be returning. Erin decided she was going for it – a career and life of empowering others through yoga.

While teaching yoga at multiple different fitness centers, schools began contacting Erin to see if she would be interested in teaching yoga to children. Not sure how to go about that but loving children, Erin tried it out and hasn’t looked back since. After having Erin’s daughter in March, Erin got her children’s teacher certification in 2016 and finally got her 95 hour children’s certification in the summer of 2019. With over 2,000 hours of teaching yoga to both adults and children, she has found a career and life that has been beyond rewarding.

All of this is how The Do Good Movement was created. Since 2015, The Do Good Movement has impacted over 10,000 students, staff, faculty and community members in and around the Chicagland area. The development of her social emotional learning curriculum that is now embedded into the Chicago Public School system was the driving force in creating the now children and adult book series to reach more people, bringing the mental health and wellness benefits to as many communities around the world as possible.