New School of Structural Integration

The New School of Structural Integration (NEWSSI) was established in 2009 by Daniel Rawson, Steve Bulger and Aimee Kolsby in beautiful Laguna Beach, California. The original concept for the school was developed in the year 2000 during a Hellerwork training at the Institute of Structural Medicine with Donna Bajelis. During an assignment to envision 10-15 years in the future, Dan Rawson and Aimee Kolsby discovered they had the same vision of a Structural Integration School. This school would serve as a vehicle where the best teachers from any of the Structural Integration schools could come and share their passion, insight and understanding of the work, regardless of whether they went to the Rolf Institute, Hellerwork Institute, the Guild, etc. The only boundaries that would be dictated are by the commitment to share an aspect of the classic Structural Integration 10-series of Dr. Ida P. Rolf.  They envisioned a school that would be the center of a thriving, welcoming community that exists to support, celebrate, and deepen the learning of Structural Integration for both new practitioners and established practitioners with advanced continuing education.

Today, NEWSSI is dedicated to teaching the life and legacy of Dr. Ida P. Rolf, which is the classic 10-Series of Structural Integration. Upon this foundation, they instill a thorough understanding of structural assessment, theory, application, biomechanics, movement education and dialogue skills to produce an efficient route for future practitioners to attain profound results. They are very committed to orthodox 10-series work in terms of maintaining the structural and functional intention of the 10-series, yet decades have passed since the development of the 10 series. Influence of many profound realizations have flavored it, expanded it.   “ We have been fortunate to have been influenced by Jan Sultan, Joseph Heller, Liz Gaggini, Bob Schrei to name a few.”  No changes have been made to the structural and functional goals; the changes have occurred in how NWSSI see the expression of those goals, through the lens of biomechanics and brain plasticity. Looking at how the body moves through three dimensional space, they are able to produce a highly effective outcome in terms of greater mechanical functionality for the human being. 

Influenced by Dr. Rolf’s statement that “we are not therapists, we are educators”, NEWSSI has used this as the core of their education program.  The focus on how the human brain learns has been heavily embodied in their work, which has been influenced largely by the work of Moshe Feldenkrais and Anat Baniel. So at one and the same time, they teach a classic standard 10-Series where they are committed to Dr. Rolf’s structural and functional goals and have also been very fortunate to have had their vision in this process expanded upon by so many wonderful teachers.

NEWSSI prides themselves as a student-centered educational engine - not a financial engine. They are a small boutique school where every student is guaranteed individualized attention, private tutorials, faculty advising and a business curriculum that guarantees their expressed vision of success.Their 1100-hour Structural Integration Practitioner Training focuses on the five main areas of instruction: Structural Bodywork, Movement Education, Somatic Psychology, Anatomy & Physiology and Business & Marketing. The training program is 18 months in length and designed for students to build an SI practice before the completion of the training. Students come to the Laguna Beach location 14 times over 18 months. Ten 4-day weekends, two 10-day intensives at the beginning and end of the training, and two 3-day business classes at the end. In between weekend classes, students work with a faculty advisor on their independent study manuals. Homework for each of the 10-sessions includes the study of bodywork, anatomy, psychology, movement supported by reading assignments, movement observations, movement lessons, and written assignments. In addition to this, students are required to give a total of 120 documented sessions before graduation. Their dedicated faculties are all accomplished, respected, working Structural Integration practitioners with many years of practical and teaching experience. They passionately deliver a broad and deep educational base in the classroom and mentor students one to one out of the classroom.

For their fellow SI community, NEWSSI offers Continuing Education classes to all Structural Integration practitioners, regardless of what school they went to for basic training. Previous CE classes featured iconic instructors such as Liz Gaggini, Monica Caspari, Bob and Donna Schrei. When asked, “If you could leave one mark on the history of SI, what would you want it to be?” they responded with “to be the first SI school to create a collaborative spirit amongst all SI trainings and to share all information with an ever increasing population of SI students.”

NEWSSI future goals are to open programs in Mexico and South America.