[Video] Boundaries and Balancing Compassion for Self & Others
Balancing compassion for self and others can be a tricky — but crucial — process. That’s why I’m so glad to share this clip from Jordan Quaglia, PhD, who has dedicated much of his research to helping clarify this complex dynamic, and how it is foundational to setting care-based boundaries.
In this short video, Dr. Quaglia shows how self-compassion and compassion for others are already intertwined at the level of the nervous system. From this perspective, healthy boundaries come from flexibly emphasizing care where it’s most needed, rather than polarizing it.
Join Our Upcoming Live Workshop + Q&A With Dr. Jordan Quaglia!
We’re thrilled to be hosting a 90-minute interactive workshop on Wednesday, January 21, 2026 with Dr. Jordan Quaglia — Mindful Boundaries in Practice: Staying Present with Clients Without Burning Out. Learn more and register here >>
Join Our Upcoming Live Workshop + Q&A With Jordan Quaglia, PhD
In this 90-minute workshop on Mindful Boundaries in Practice: Staying Present with Clients Without Burning Out, Jordan Quaglia invites us to reconsider boundaries as an essential component of therapeutic presence—one that supports, rather than restricts, our capacity to care.
Dr. Quaglia offers a relational, care-based approach that positions boundaries as a pathway to clarity, compassion, and therapeutic sustainability. Through experiential practices, applied neuroscience, and practical tools, he shows how embodying healthy limits deepens presence, sharpens clinical discernment, and strengthens the therapeutic alliance.
The workshop will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, January 21, at 4pm ET / 1pm PT.
In this workshop you will:
- Recognize the need for boundaries in real time, both within yourself and within the therapeutic relationship.
- Understand how care-based boundaries support therapeutic presence, connection, and attunement.
- Learn to stay attuned while avoiding empathic overextension, responding with clarity rather than guilt or collapse.
- Practice in-session interventions that help clients articulate and honor their own boundary needs.
- Cultivate an ongoing, embodied practice of mindful boundaries that sustains care for self and others, fostering deeper therapeutic connection.
- Plus: there will be time for a live Q&A!
Also included with registration:
- Helping professionals will also have the opportunity to attend a LIVE integration & practice lab hosted by Clarissan Cigrand, PhD on January 28 at 1pm PT/4pm ET
- Lifetime access to the workshop recording and typed transcript
Learn more and register for the Live Workshop + Q&A >>
About Jordan Quaglia
Jordan Quaglia, PhD, is an author, professor, and public speaker who has spent over a decade researching and teaching on mindfulness, compassion, and boundaries. He is the author of From Self-Care to We-Care: The New Science of Mindful Boundaries and Caring from an Undivided Heart (Shambhala, 2025), which explores how to harmonize care for ourselves and others through science-based practices.
Jordan is Associate Professor of Psychology at Naropa University, where he directs the Cognitive and Affective Science Laboratory and serves as Research Director for the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education. A recognized expert in the science of compassion, he has been named a Fellow by the Mind & Life Institute, a Contemplative Social Justice Scholar by Contemplative Mind in Society, and a panelist for multiple United Nations Day of Vesak conferences.
In addition to his academic work, Jordan co-developed and regularly teaches an eight-week compassion training curriculum that has reached hundreds of individuals. He frequently presents to diverse audiences, bridging cutting-edge science with contemplative practice and lived insight to make his work both accessible and transformative.
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