Today we’d like to introduce you to Slava Kolpakov.
Slava, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I moved to Boston in 2007 from San Diego and rented a small room at an acupuncture office in Newton. My specialty was a blend of Eastern and Western styles of massage, in particular, Thai massage, and Neuromuscular Therapy. Almost no one in Boston at the time combined those modalities in depth, and my practice grew very quickly. Within two years, I was able to expand into a bigger practice, and I started to hire and train other therapists who wanted to learn the Thai Muscular Therapy. In 2015, we opened a second location in Cambridge.
Now, East West Massage employs about 25 licensed massage therapists between the two locations, and we have our unique place in Boston.
Why this particular blend of East and West?
After working with hundreds of active professionals who have suffered from chronic and stubborn issues, I have found that the combinations of Thai Massage with Deep Tissue and Neuromuscular Therapy produce the best results. Eastern styles provide the energetic component and the skeletal movement techniques to mobilize stagnant tissues and joints. The Western massage modalities provide the anatomically specific techniques to work with sore or injured muscles.
Has it been a smooth road?
We’ve been blessed with many wonderful clients from all walks of life, athletes, stressed-out college students, or office workers, active seniors, and people with injuries. The main challenge for me as a business owner is the balance of running a business and working in it as a therapist myself. I have trained many good therapists who have become my own competition and went on to open their own very similar practices. Luckily, there are plenty of customers out there who benefit from our healing work, and the way I see it, the more the merrier, and the healthier our clients are.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the East-West Massage Therapy story. Tell us more about the business.
I am most proud of my clients who have been able to recover from serious injuries with our help. Hands-on soft tissue therapy and recovery is a very effective tool, and I am happy to have achieved a certain degree of mastery in it over the last 12-15 years.
I am also proud of my therapist teams at both locations. We have smart, skillful, experienced, and fun-to-talk-with therapists.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The massage therapy field is becoming more medical, or clinical. There are certain health conditions that only a skillful hands-on healer can remedy, and many medical professionals are recognizing this shift. We are getting more and more referrals from primary care doctors, chiropractors, and physical therapists.
Pricing:
- 60-min massage: $95 in Newton; $80 in Cambridge; first time and member discounts apply
- 75-min massage: $110 in Newton; $100 in Cambridge
- 90-min massage: $130 in Newton; $120 in Cambridge
Contact Info:
- Address: 709 Washington Street, Newton, MA 02458
- 14 McGrath Highway, Twin City Plaza, Somerville, MA 02143
- Website: www.eastwestmassageboston.com
- Phone: 6173409870
- Email: info@eastwestmassageboston.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EastWestMassageTherapy/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/east-west-massage-therapy-newtonville
- Other: https://www.yelp.com/biz/east-west-massage-cambridge-somerville
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