SPECIAL PROJECT 2004-2005

Physical Intelligence Initiative

Aline Newton

For the past 20 years, Aline Newton has been thinking, writing, and teaching on the many dimensions of physical intelligence. In private practice, she has applied this understanding to physical rehabilitation with a patient population ranging from high performance athletes to computer programmers. Aline’s clients present a wide variety of problems from bad posture to repetitive strain injury to chronic joint pain. Her approach to rehabilitation emphasizes the role of the body’s adaptation to gravity and habits of perception in provoking and maintaining these symptoms. Proprioceptive reeducation—the application of physical intelligence—changes the basic movement patterns that are at the root of a wide variety of chronic problems.

Aline teaches workshops and training courses on these topics across the United States. She is a member of the International Rolf Institute and a past Chair of its Board of Directors. Aline has written extensively on applications of physical intelligence to rehabilitation, in particular on aspects of gravity’s impact on human structure and function–not just a force acting on us from the outside but as a key frame of reference that we use to organize our movements. Her articles are published in the Journal of Structural Integration. She has a BA from Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in Education from the University of Toronto. Aline lives and works in Cambridge, MA.