Shawnee Thornton Hardy is a Yoga Therapist, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Somatic Touch Facilitator, Ayurvedic Wellness Guide, author, educator, and the founder of Asanas for Autism and Special Needs, Yoga Therapy for Youth, and Embodied Wellbeing Yoga Therapy. She is also the co-founder of the Women Writers Collective in Yoga Therapy. With over three decades of experience working with children, teens, and young adults with complex needs, Shawnee is passionate about supporting nervous system regulation, resilience, embodiment, emotional well-being, and authentic connection through yoga therapy, somatic practices, sensory integration, relational approaches to healing, Ayurveda, and nature-based practices.
Who is Shawnee Thornton Hardy? Former and Current Positions
A central focus of Shawnee’s work is sensory processing and sensory integration, and the profound role the sensory systems play in regulation, emotional wellbeing, learning, connection, embodiment, and daily life. She weaves sensory-informed, trauma-informed, and neurodiversity-affirming approaches throughout her teaching and therapeutic work, helping individuals cultivate greater body awareness, safety, self-understanding, regulation, and connection.
Shawnee is the author of the books Yoga Therapy for Children and Teens with Complex Needs: A Somatosensory Approach to Mental, Emotional, and Physical Wellbeing and Asanas for Autism and Special Needs: Yoga to Help Children with their Emotions, Self-Regulation, and Body Awareness. She is also the creator of the C.A.L.M.M. Yoga Toolkit and the My Body Sensations Curriculum, widely used to support interoception, emotional awareness, self-regulation, and body-based learning for neurodivergent youth and individuals with diverse needs.
She serves as faculty for several yoga therapy training programs and leads trainings, workshops, and certifications throughout the United States, internationally, and online. Shawnee’s work weaves together yoga therapy, somatic practices, trauma-informed care, sensory integration, relational healing, Ayurveda, and compassionate, neurodiversity-affirming approaches to support individuals, caregivers, educators, therapists, and yoga professionals.
Deeply inspired by the wisdom of nature, Shawnee believes that we are not separate from nature, we are nature. The rhythms, cycles, elements, and intelligence of the natural world are woven throughout her work, inviting greater connection to the body, the nervous system, the earth, and our shared humanity.
Disclosures
Financial: Shawnee Thornton Hardy will receive a speaker’s honorarium from TheraMoves Services for the presentation. She receives royalties from the sale of books she has authored that she will refer to in this course. Ms. Thornton-Hardy has no nonfinancial relationships to disclose.
