The Spiritual Dimension of Bipolar Disorder. People tend to think of Spiritual Awakenings and the acute psychosis usually diagnosed as bipolar disorder as completely different experiences, with one being beneficial and the other damaging. Sean’s 15 years of research into this area reveals that there is no clear separation between the two conditions, and that the vast majority of people labeled with bipolar disorder have a powerful spiritual component to their non-ordinary experiences which hold the potential for the healing of emotional trauma and, perhaps, spiritual breakthrough. Sean will discuss both ends of a spectrum of experiences which range from “madness” to “awakening,” helping to promote deeper understanding of what has the potential to be a deeply healing process.

Sean Blackwell has been researching and teaching about the spiritual dimension and healing potential of bipolar disorder since 2007 through his YouTube channel, bipolarORwakingUP, which has recently been renamed Bipolar Awakenings. His videos graphically illustrate subjects such as spiritual emergency, depression, and the evolution of consciousness, always demonstrating how these themes relate to transcending the bipolar condition. His book, Am I Bipolar or Waking Up?, describes his own bipolar awakening, subsequent hospitalization, and complete recovery, which happened in 1996. In 2013, Sean started The Bipolar Awakenings Healing Retreat, a pioneering program for people who wanted to heal from their so-called incurable condition. In 2016, Sean received his certification as a Holotropic Breathwork facilitator with Grof Transpersonal Training, who have publicly endorsed his work. This education was fundamental to the development of the healing retreat process. In 2020, Sean launched two online healing modalities, Distance Surrogate Breathwork and Conscious Emotional Clearing, as safe healing practices which can be done at home.