Our Story
How The Temple Massager System™ Came About...
In September of 1997, I was nearing the end of my military career as a Combat Engineer and college student and was under heavy stress. I started to develop pain in my lower jaw area, began to poke and prod at my facial muscles with my sunglasses, and decided that I needed to buy a temple massager immediately.
But such a device did not exist.
Realizing the potential in the product, I spent years developing a prototype and in 2008 received a patent. As I was working on this project, the men and women I had served with were being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Seeing the stress they were under I hoped the Temple Massager™ would help them and other veterans to relax. As of today, we have donated over 6 thousand Temple Massagers™!
Now, with unprecedented stress in the workplace, we're making the Temple Massager™ available for everyone.
Police and 911 dispatchers have found particular benefit from The Temple Massager™
It is incredible the letters from Police and 911 dispatchers we receive. They are commenting on eye fatigue, headache and anxiety relief. I’m proud to be a veteran that created a combat stress relief tool and now we are helping Police, 911 dispatchers and Fire departments and people from all walks of life.
The Story Behind “Holdin On” - the Music Video
Music has always been a source of stress relief for me and part of the Temple Massager journey to include Rhino Entertainment, Warner Music and the Grateful dead. A while back, I connected with a group that jammed at a studio owned by a Vietnam combat veteran. They needed a drummer, and although I was an amateur who hadn’t played in years, the other musicians were kind and patient as I relearned. They included keyboardist Jack Jacobsen, who toured with Huey Lewis, Starship, and Night Ranger, and touring musician Dustin Saylor.
Every other week we would jam and I shared Temple Massager updates, and the guys became invested in the story. They heard about the donations reaching veterans and service members around the world, and about how I was getting my ass kicked trying to secure a research study that kept slipping away. Through all of it, I just had to hold on. Our host, the Vietnam veteran, suggested we turn that into a song.
I wrote about serving with two men who gave all, Private Curtis Young and Sergeant First Class Michael Ottolini, and how their sacrifice drove me on from the other side. That became the outline. Jack and Dustin shaped it into a song, with Dustin handling most of the arrangement and production.
The video shows photos from my military career. It ends with me on stage winning the 2025 Disability:IN pitch competition, then a photo of my platoon that includes Curtis, and finally a photo of Mike. Curtis and Mike got me to that stage, and they got me through everything that ended with a positive clinical study that backed up what I had seen for 15 years.
When you’ve served with two men who gave all, how can you do anything but hold on?
They helped me from the other side, and now we have our first clinical research reflecting what I’ve seen over 15 years of donating Temple Massagers to service members and veterans that will allow us to help other people.
Joe Meisch
Founder, Temple Massager
In 2009 while giving Temple Massagers away to a group of Combat Engineers deploying to Afghanistan, a sergeant came up to me, holding the temple massager I’d just given him. He said he was sending it home to his daughter in northern California.
I asked him "why?"
He quietly told me that his daughter was in Iraq in 2005 and injured during a bombing and as a result was unable to lift her arm up to her head. He was sending it home to her because he and his wife had always given their daughter a temple massage to help her sleep but while deployed, his wife had to take a second job and wouldn't be able to give her massages. This story has a happy ending with everyone making it home. Months later the company commander issued a letter stating that the Temple Massager™ had helped combat soldiers relax while back at their base between patrols and missions.
If you experience any facial musculature tension issues or want to relax naturally then you need to try the Temple Massager™.
Today the Temple Massager has expanded to become a wellness tool that aids people from all types of backgrounds; women under stress, teachers, health professionals, wellness and HR teams, athletes, and more!
Our promise:
The Meisch Temple Massager™ will always support the military and veterans through reduced costs and donations.
“We are committed to bringing you the finest products and service… not just the Meisch Temple Massager™, but all related accessories and progressive health and wellness products.” - Joe Meisch, Founder