Dr. Thomas Tijerina
@thotij.bsky.social
PhD, Sociologist, Professor, Mentor, Boxing Coach, Husband, Father, Grandfather
Mindfulness, lifting, running, boxing, jiu jitsu, nutrition, hiking, biking, reading, writing, spirituality, music, travel✌🏽❤️ https://beacons.ai/drttijerina
Mindfulness, lifting, running, boxing, jiu jitsu, nutrition, hiking, biking, reading, writing, spirituality, music, travel✌🏽❤️ https://beacons.ai/drttijerina
The wellness industry tells us we’re tired because we’re not trying hard enough but many of us are exhausted because the systems around us are exhausting. When healing becomes a product, rest becomes performance, and calm gets sold back to us at a markup. I wrote about this here. #Wellness #Health
The Wellness Industry: Colonialism in Disguise?
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
open.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Intellect does not heal trauma.
December 23, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Intellect does not heal trauma.
Colonialism trained nervous systems. Fear, vigilance, silence, and muscular tension are learned adaptations to power. History lives in the body. To decolonize the bodymind is to teach the nervous system that safety is possible again. #writing substack.com/home/post/p-...
Colonialism and the Bodymind
If the brain learns through experience, then history lives in our nervous systems.
substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Colonialism trained nervous systems. Fear, vigilance, silence, and muscular tension are learned adaptations to power. History lives in the body. To decolonize the bodymind is to teach the nervous system that safety is possible again. #writing substack.com/home/post/p-...
Some days I don’t want to run, lift, write, meditate, or teach. Some days I feel like I’m made of fatigue and grief. But discipline reminds me that movement is medicine, community is medicine, presence is medicine. Keep showing up gently.
December 17, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Some days I don’t want to run, lift, write, meditate, or teach. Some days I feel like I’m made of fatigue and grief. But discipline reminds me that movement is medicine, community is medicine, presence is medicine. Keep showing up gently.
Your ancestors didn’t survive colonization for you to numb yourself to death. Healing is not an aesthetic, it’s a responsibility. Every moment you choose presence over escape, you honor people who never had that choice.
December 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Your ancestors didn’t survive colonization for you to numb yourself to death. Healing is not an aesthetic, it’s a responsibility. Every moment you choose presence over escape, you honor people who never had that choice.
Most people aren’t burned out. They’re spiritually underfed.They’ve been living on noise, distraction, and survival mode. I see it every day in the gym, the classroom, and the people I love.
Slow down. Breathe. Your spirit is starving for something quieter than hustle culture.
Slow down. Breathe. Your spirit is starving for something quieter than hustle culture.
December 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Most people aren’t burned out. They’re spiritually underfed.They’ve been living on noise, distraction, and survival mode. I see it every day in the gym, the classroom, and the people I love.
Slow down. Breathe. Your spirit is starving for something quieter than hustle culture.
Slow down. Breathe. Your spirit is starving for something quieter than hustle culture.
In solidarity with Notre Dame, I decided I will boycott and not watch any bowl games.
a man wearing glasses and a hawaiian shirt says `` see , nobody cares ''
ALT: a man wearing glasses and a hawaiian shirt says `` see , nobody cares ''
media.tenor.com
December 8, 2025 at 1:18 AM
In solidarity with Notre Dame, I decided I will boycott and not watch any bowl games.
What happens when ideas like gratitude, flow, and resilience move off the page and into real life?
Applying Positive Psychology to Daily Liberation
The principles of positive psychology become most alive when they leave the classroom and enter ordinary life.
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 5:44 PM
What happens when ideas like gratitude, flow, and resilience move off the page and into real life?
Lifehack: Seriously, when you see a post in all caps, you can just assume it's stupid.
December 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Lifehack: Seriously, when you see a post in all caps, you can just assume it's stupid.
Positive psychology measures happiness.Liberation asks who has access to it. Without history and context, even the science of joy can mistake privilege for wellness. #writing #writer substack.com/home/post/p-...
The Roots of Positive Psychology
Psychology did not begin as the study of flourishing.
substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Positive psychology measures happiness.Liberation asks who has access to it. Without history and context, even the science of joy can mistake privilege for wellness. #writing #writer substack.com/home/post/p-...
Progress belongs to those who begin, stumble, and begin again.
November 29, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Progress belongs to those who begin, stumble, and begin again.
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
November 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
A ZIP code shouldn’t predict a person’s lifespan but it does. #Health #Wellness www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrNMfdbA/
We often talk about health as a matter of willpower, discipline, or individual choice. But sociology reveals something far more important: health is shaped by the conditions we live in long before it ...
TikTok video by Dr. Thomas Tijerina
www.tiktok.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
A ZIP code shouldn’t predict a person’s lifespan but it does. #Health #Wellness www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrNMfdbA/
500 days of sobriety flew by fast! Didn't expect that.
November 18, 2025 at 3:16 AM
500 days of sobriety flew by fast! Didn't expect that.
Truth! What they’re defending is racial hierarchy, not national borders.
When white people react with hostility to sharing space with Black and brown folk, they don’t care if those folk were born here, migrated legally, or are “illegal aliens.” They only see non-white faces who “don’t belong in their space.” This is why “ordinary concern” about migration is basic racism.
November 17, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Truth! What they’re defending is racial hierarchy, not national borders.
Healing is not becoming a different person. It’s remembering who you were before the world colonized you.
November 17, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Healing is not becoming a different person. It’s remembering who you were before the world colonized you.
Ever notice how happiness feels like work? Like something you have to earn? That’s because colonialism claimed our definitions of joy. Here’s me beginning to unpack that. #writing #writer #blog #substack
Colonialism and the Invention of Modern Happiness
When European philosophers of the Enlightenment began to speak of happiness, they turned it into proof of progress.
thomastijerina.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Your body will forgive you, but not forever.
November 15, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Your body will forgive you, but not forever.
Your body will humble you and slow you down if you don't learn to pace yourself. I'm still learning the hard way.
November 14, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Your body will humble you and slow you down if you don't learn to pace yourself. I'm still learning the hard way.
If you’ve ever felt like your body was aging faster than your spirit… I’m writing a book for you.
November 14, 2025 at 4:19 PM
If you’ve ever felt like your body was aging faster than your spirit… I’m writing a book for you.
I call it “seasonal introspection disorder.”
November 12, 2025 at 2:54 AM
I call it “seasonal introspection disorder.”
It feels like community is just a group of tired people who keep showing up anyway.
November 11, 2025 at 2:55 PM
It feels like community is just a group of tired people who keep showing up anyway.
What a weird privilege, to be alive and this confused.
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 AM
What a weird privilege, to be alive and this confused.
I don’t care what anyone says, Taco Bell’s Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie is not as good as my abuelita’s homemade Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie.
November 10, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I don’t care what anyone says, Taco Bell’s Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie is not as good as my abuelita’s homemade Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie.
Many well past retirement age.
Senators on the brink of retirement who lived full, wealthy lives and never feared the loss of their own healthcare voting for their constituents to die from their inability to afford the same is treasonous
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Many well past retirement age.