What if mania isn’t a malfunction — but a message from the psyche trying to heal?

Sean Blackwell is an author, teacher, and researcher who has spent nearly two decades exploring the spiritual and somatic dimensions of bipolar disorder. His work challenges the mainstream psychiatric model by suggesting that episodes of mania, depression, and psychosis often have trauma roots and can reflect deep inner attempts at healing rather than symptoms of a broken brain.

In 1996, Sean went through a sudden and life-altering psychotic-spiritual emergency - an experience that would send him on a lifelong path of studying consciousness, trauma, and the symbolic nature of extreme states. Years later, after training with Grof Transpersonal Training, he developed Bipolar Breathwork, a somatic healing method designed to help people safely release the emotional and energetic blockages underlying bipolar symptoms.

Since 2007, Sean has taught internationally, run immersive healing retreats, offered long-distance breathwork sessions, and released dozens of educational videos to help people reframe bipolar disorder as a potentially meaningful and transformative process. His book Bipolar Awakenings and his upcoming second book continue this work - bridging psychology, spirituality, trauma science, and subtle-body energetics into a new way of understanding human breakdown and human growth.

Sean’s approach is deeply interesting, compassionate, and grounded in real lived experience - a perspective that has helped many people find hope, coherence, and self-understanding after years of confusion or misdiagnosis.

This episode explores the somatic roots of bipolar disorder, the symbolic language of psychosis, the role of trauma in extreme states, and how Kundalini and breathwork can create dramatic shifts in consciousness.

Notable quotes from the episode:

“People think delusions are random. But around the world, the same 13 spiritual delusions show up. There is structure.” - Sean
“Breakdowns often happen because something in us finally refuses to stay buried.” - Sean
“I’ve met so many people who weren’t sick - they were overwhelmed by a truth they weren’t taught how to carry.” - Jacob

“What psychiatry calls a disorder can be the beginning of a profound inner journey.” - Sean

“Trauma doesn’t live in the mind. It lives in the body - and the body tries to heal in dramatic ways.” - Sean
“The body whispers for years, and when we don’t listen, it eventually sends a storm.” - Jacob

“When those energetic blockages release, the result can look like mania, visions, or symbolic delusions.” - Sean
“Sometimes healing looks like falling apart in ways we can’t cleanly explain.” - Jacob

“The psyche speaks in myth and metaphor. Mania is often that language becoming audible.” - Sean

If this conversation expanded your understanding of bipolar disorder or spiritual awakening, consider following the show and sharing it with someone it might help.

00:00 Sean Blackwell on Bipolar Disorder & Spiritual Awakening
00:00:25 What Bipolar Disorder Really Is (Symptoms vs Reality)
00:01:30 Bipolar I, Bipolar II & Psychosis Explained
00:02:20 Spiritual Delusions & the Ram Dass Connection
00:03:38 Sean’s Landmark Experience: The Turning Point
00:05:05 Entering Psychosis: The Dreamlike State & Ego Death
00:06:32 Crisis, Hospitalization & Early Integration
00:08:05 How Helping Others Became Sean’s Calling
00:09:16 Supporting His Niece Through Awakening
00:10:49 Why Psychiatry Defaults to Lifelong Medication
00:11:35 Kundalini, Trauma Energy & Somatic Roots of Bipolar
00:14:11 Which Book to Read First
00:15:24 Breathwork, Distance Sessions & Trauma Release
00:18:53 Meaning, Intuition & Sean’s Multiverse Theory
00:21:27 Closing Reflections on Healing & Awakening

bipolar disorder, mania, psychosis, spiritual emergency, kundalini awakening, trauma healing, somatic therapy, breathwork, transpersonal psychology, Stanislav Grof, mental health, bipolar healing, consciousness, subtle body, emotional release, awakening process, nervous system regulation, alternative mental health, spiritual awakening, bipolar awareness

Checkout more Sean here: https://www.bipolarawakenings.com/
Grab his latest book: https://a.co/d/8UUU1rT
and 'Am I Bi-Polar or Waking Up?': https://a.co/d/4qX7nR2
Browse his 25k+ subscriber YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bipolarawake
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bipolarawakenings
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Xz36ES0eiX2c4L4SyCJno?si=319134dba8e740d1