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

In this conversation, I'm joined by mathematician, meditator, and machine learning engineer Blake Hull.

We share stories of therapy, meditation, and Ram Dass, opening up after years of staying in the head, we unravel ideas of masculinity, expand on vulnerability, and dissect what it means to become safe in our own skin. We talk about anger as sacred energy, the strange geometry of emotion, and the daily ritual of saying “Good morning, Blakey Boy” - a quiet reminder that to heal isn't to change, it's to remember who you already are. This is a fluid dialogue that drifts through psychedelics, softness, the mathematics of love, friendship, wisdom - it's an episode that invites you to slow down, breathe, and feel something true. Together, The Great and Wonderful Blake Hull and I explore the space between intellect, emotion, and becoming what we are - I hope you'll join us.

Themes: therapy · masculinity · meditation · Ram Dass · psychedelics · inner-child · emotional intelligence · spiritual growth

Notable quotes from the episode:

“When intellect finally kneels to emotion, that’s when growth begins.”
- Blake, describing the moment logic yields to honesty.

“Emotions are information. You’d be stupid to ignore them.”
- Blake quoting a college professor who first reframed feeling as intelligence.

“When Jesus flipped tables, that was dharmic anger — anger in service of love.”
- Jacob, reframing anger as sacred energy rather than chaos.

“I feel most connected with you when you’re feeling.”
- Blake recounting a moment in therapy that changed his understanding of connection and vulnerability.

“Maybe consciousness has always been doing this — reflecting itself through whatever new medium we invent.”
- Jacob, near the close, connecting AI, identity, and awareness.

“Anger isn’t the problem. It’s what happens when we stop letting it teach us.”
- Blake, redefining emotional intelligence through presence.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 – Intro: Setting up, laughter, first exchange, Blake's Bio
00:02:15 – “I feel most connected when you’re feeling” – therapy and awareness
00:05:00 – Logic vs emotion: learning how to feel again
00:07:25 – Emotional intelligence and inner safety
00:10:45 – Anger as sacred energy (“dharmic anger”)
00:12:10 – Modern society, Idiocracy, and humor as medicine
00:15:23 – Aldous Huxley, psychedelics, and self-reflection
00:16:09 – Paul Stamets, microdosing, and consciousness
00:20:00 – Mushrooms, meditation, and integration
00:26:00 – Masculinity and vulnerability
00:31:00 – Meditation: honesty over peace
00:36:03 – “Good morning, Blakey Boy” – the inner-child ritual
00:40:03 – Ego, death, and Ram Dass on becoming somebody
00:45:00 – Comic relief: fart jokes and humility
00:50:00 – Math and metaphysics: when numbers become poetry
00:58:48 – Math as beauty and the language of existence
01:00:26 – Group theory, triangles, and the philosophy of structure
01:02:06 – Did humans discover or invent math?
01:10:00 – Humor, curiosity, and teaching through questions
01:13:34 – The future of math, AI, and physics (the long view)
01:14:13 – Ray Kurzweil and his father’s digital journals
01:15:15 – iPhone, exponential tech, and AI acceleration
01:16:00 – Touchscreens, prediction, and futurism
01:20:00 – Consciousness and machine learning
01:30:00 – Human identity in the age of algorithms
01:37:01 – AI anxiety, UBI, and the ethics of automation
01:43:56 – Consciousness itself: What is it, really?
02:00:00 – Journaling, memory, and the desire to preserve the self
02:14:00 – Humor as grounding: “Even the enlightened still fart.”
02:20:00 – Compassion as technology
02:31:04 – Returning to therapy: “I feel most connected when you’re feeling.”
02:40:00 – Closing reflections, gratitude, and quiet laughter

#JunkyardLovePodcast #BlakeHull #EmotionalIntelligence #Masculinity #Mindfulness #Meditation #InnerChild #TherapyForMen #ModernSpirituality #AIConsciousness #MachineLearning #SelfAwareness #PodcastEpisode #ListenNow

Hit subscribe for new episodes, we'll see ya next time.

Curtis L. Harnagel is a creative polymath - a director, consultant, and producer whose career moves fluidly between live entertainment, multimedia, dance, art, and nonprofit worlds. A true pop-culture savant, Curtis carries decades of music knowledge, behind-the-scenes reasoning, and pedagogical wisdom from his perspective that apply across every industry. I first met Curtis on-site at a stunning fashion show fundraiser. I was hired as the shows Live-DJ while Curtis was the shows Music and Staging Director. After a few days of working with Curtis, I knew this was someone who sees a room from different angles. I asked him to join our collection of outlier teachers here on The Junkyard Love Podcast, we had nothing short of an excellent conversation.

Armed with a degree in Radio, Television, and Film, Curtis’s path has been a mosaic of lighting grand productions like Phantom of the Opera, sculpting award-winning dance performances, staging massive live events, and mentoring creative teams to greatness. He coined GESAMTCURTISWERK (“Total Work of Curtis”) to describe his craft. It's a philosophy that threads art, logistics, and human connection into something greater than the sum of its parts - a way of thinking that refuses to split art from logistics, communication from creation, or teaching from doing; it’s all one interconnected, ever-evolving work: Curtis lives it. To top it off, his tagline? - "Turning Dreams Into Entertainment."

In this episode, Curtis and I pull back the curtain on what it takes to knead, bake, and present large-scale creative projects with a true human touch. We talk about perception, the unspoken layers of communication, and how one thoughtful phrase can redirect an entire production. Curtis shares stories from the unpredictable trenches of live events - moments of tension, flashes of brilliance, and hail-mary's that knealed to the 'The show must go on'.

We unravel wisdom passed down from influential teachers, explore the psychology of feedback and leadership, and examine how different minds approach creativity and problem-solving. We talk about the invisible threads that hold collaboration together, and how communication and listening can shape art, teams, and even lives.

“GESAMTCURTISWERK [guh-zahmt-kur-tis-verk]

noun, German.

1. "Total Work of Curtis"

A. Gesamt - adj; total, overall (German)

B. Curtis - noun; English proper name of Anglo-Norman origin derived from the word courteous.

C. Werk - verb; to work (German)

2. Derived from: Gesamtkunstwerk [guh-zahmt-koo nst-verk] noun, German

A. German for "Total Work of Art" or "Synthesis of the Arts “

Resources / Links:

• Website: www.gesamtcurtiswerk.com
• Instagram: @gesamtcurtiswerk
• YouTube: GESAMTCURTISWERK
• Bold Journey Interview - https://boldjourney.com/meet-curtis-l-harnagel/
• Voyage Dallas Interview - https://voyagedallas.com/interview/conversations-with-curtis-l-harnagel/
• Canvas Rebel Interview - https://canvasrebel.com/meet-curtis-l-harnagel/
• DIFFA - 2025 theme trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gugNT39gHjw
• DIFFA website: https://www.diffadallas.org/hod
• DIFFA Instagram: @diffadallastx

Checkout Curtis's official music playlist for Ep: 0116 Junkyard Love: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/06CsHwodO7jxWav75ieiX6?si=BI8KIR9qR5SbSsxODd3eeg&pi=lUYZBKGITUmCj

Quotes:

• “Listening is the cornerstone of communication. Most people hear - you have to actually listen.”
• “Kindness is not niceness. Kindness and goodness have one thing in common: benevolence.”
• “Observation itself is a form of communication.”
• “Every move is a signature... make it count.”
• “Your emergency is not my emergency. Take a beat, be polite.”

If you enjoyed the episode, hit subscribe. We'll see ya for 0117 in a few weeks!