Slava Kolpakov

Throughout childhood, Slava trained in and competed at the national-level in gymnastics, judo, and track. Slava left Russia at sixteen and was fortunate to live and study in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States. In 2002, he completed his first Integral Yoga Teacher certification in the tradition of Swami Satchidananda, whose main focus was on spiritual philosophy and healthy lifestyle. By 2005, Slava finished a two-year Structural Yoga Therapy™ program and started working as a yoga therapist in San Diego, CA.

To add to his yoga training, Slava received a Massage Therapy Certification (2004-2006) from International Professional School of Bodywork in San Diego with specializations in Thai Massage, Tui Na (Chinese Medical Massage), Deep Tissue Sculpting, and Neuromuscular Therapy. Promptly after massage school, he worked at various massage therapy centers in San Diego, including Scripps Hospital, La Jolla Acupuncture, and Prana Yoga Center. After the ‘western’ training and work experience, Slava decided to go to Thailand for more advanced training, where he had the opportunity to study with many renowned teachers.

Slava is also an avid runner and running coach. He sees running as one of his meditative practices.

Yoga and story-telling have the power to transform people’s lives. Slava has been telling stories and sharing insightful messages in his yoga classes since the beginning of his teaching career. To inspire through a story, or to jump-start a transformation in someone else’s life, is the most exciting aspect of teaching yoga to others. 

In 2007, Slava and his wife Theresa moved to Boston, and he founded East West Massage Therapy center in Newton, where he still sees clients. Over the years, he has taught yoga in multiple settings, working with athletes, seniors, and people with injuries. Since 2010, Slava has been teaching Yogic Philosophy and the Yoga Sutras as part of the yoga teacher training at Open Doors Yoga centers around Massachusetts and at Prana Yoga in La Jolla, CA. Slava’s favorite way to teach and practice yoga is as a meditative practice.

In 2018, Slava sold his East West Massage practice to Nicole Russo of Skin to Soul Massage, and moved back to San Diego to pursue a career as a fiction writer, and start a tour company (Iconic San Diego Running Tours).

Slava has been writing fiction in the genre of magical realism and semi-realistic fantasy suspense since 2015, and hopes to publish his first novel OSTROG this year. He is currently looking for a literary agent to represent his work. OSTROG is about a mystical settlement of shapeshifters in Siberia, and is based on old Russian folklore.