Navigating the manic depressive spectrum is profoundly challenging. Much has been written about this condition, dating back to ancient civilization. Many who live with its tumultuous vagaries have written memoirs and monographs. These stories have humanized our experience and offered shared language for understanding this path.
Yet the overwhelming paradigm in writing on this spectrum is one of pathology. The range of possibilities that manifest are described as ‘disorders’ that reify limits on life’s possibilities. The psychotic extremes of the condition are seen as utterly terrifying and unmanageable, tolerable subject only to aggressive psychotropic intervention.
This essay is written to offer tools for capturing and amplifying the creativity and cognitive strengths that often flow within the manic depressive spectrum. I will describe exercises grounded in somatics and mindfulness offering strategies for channeling manic energy in relative safety.
A range of theoretical modalities inform this argument. I am a poet and artist living on the manic depressive spectrum, but also a practicing psychotherapist. I am an addict in recovery who serves as a sponsor, has a sponsor myself, works steps, goes to meetings, and stays in service. I have a long history in social justice organizing to advance collective liberation. I am a casual student of tantra, attuned to the overlap between the nondual spirituality of classic tantra, and the more contemporary erotic focus of neo-tantra. All of these facets of identity and experience inform this work.
I do not counterpose Western medicine’s psychiatric paradigm with the tools I describe. In my experience, optimal functioning on this spectrum of neurodivergence requires both psychotropic interventions and an evolving array of physical, spiritual, and mindful techniques.
I must stress that there are times when it is imperative to get urgent intervention and seek a psychiatric ward. This avenue of capitalist medicine leaves much to be desired. Yet often a psych ward offers a safety net for someone in psychosis that is otherwise unavailable. I urge anyone experiencing acute mania to strongly consider immediate professional help.
The literature on manic depressive illness illuminates the fact that there is a long history of artists, organizers, and leaders who have shared this diagnosis. Some have posited a link between high creativity and imagination, and the genetic code that may trigger this ‘disorder.’
I go further. I believe that the vast majority of people with bipolar diagnoses can learn to hone the skills adjacent to this condition’s psychotic extremes. We can use episodes of mania and hypomania to deepen insight, conjure visions, and sink rots into the soil of connection and liberation.
Neurodiversity is a term that often refers to the autism spectrum specifically. I advocate a broader imagining of the term. As we amplify neurodiversity we can explore rich rivers of creative potential. The idiosyncrasies of our minds are tools to expand collective consciousness. They help us open portals to new worlds.
We must also take stock of the diverse global epistemologies of psychic extremes. Many would argue that what western science labels as psychosis would be seen by a multitude of indigenous societies as a sign of prophetic spiritual potential. Shamanic practices flow between divergent indigenous people’s revealing universal wisdom in our communal memory. There is much work to be done illuminating the best of the shamanic path and integrating these insights into our society’s approach to psychic variance.
PUMP THE BREAKS
The first step in dealing with a wave of mania is to restrain the desire to accentuate the high. I venture to guess that most people on the manic depressive spectrum get a taste of mania or hypomania and just want more. We suppress the need for sleep, stop eating adequately and use intoxicating substances to heighten the experience.
We need to trust that we can have powerful experiences without pushing them to extremes. Controlling the high is a much more effective long-term strategy than always pushing a high to extremes. When we artificially accentuate highs, we are likely to crash into paralyzing depressions afterward, or to lurch into ‘mixed states’ where elements of depression and mania combine. These are the circumstances in which successful suicide attempts are most likely.
Trust that you are going to get exactly what the universe knows you can handle. Do your best to use some selection of the tools in this essay to reign the mania in and to focus its intensity on amplifying introspection. Remember that other people are amazing, brilliant beings on intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels. Attune to other people and try to relate and connect.
Attend to the physical basics. Do your best to sleep and drink copious amounts of water. Invariably your appetite will be suppressed, but try to push yourself to eat. If your body and mind don’t get natural fuel, they react by overproducing neurotransmitters and hormones like dopamine and adrenaline. This will amplify the eruption of uncontrolled mania.
MANIC ZEN
One powerful tool when channeling manic energy is mindfulness. One expression of mindfulness is to dilate the present moment–to try to remain open to sensory information in flow. Another frame is to see mindfulness as integrating physical intelligence, emotional intelligence, and logic. When these three balance and coalesce, magic transpires.
Flooded with psychic electricity, our first impulse is to launch into a frenzy of activity. Yet there is another path. We can channel that energy into introspection and grounded presence. I call this state manic zen.
Meditation can be pivotal. Use music or candles if these move you. Take slow and steady breaths focusing energy inward. Imagine roots growing down from your body. Imagine bestowing the earth with your potent energy. Keep slowing the breath. Try breathing out for significantly longer than you breathe in. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This system tells us that we can slow down. It signals that we are not under threat or activated by urgency.
Cultivating this introspection will manifest in divergent ways. Focusing on moving energy through the seven primary chakras is powerful. Many modalities advise moving from the root chakra upwards. Some will want to explore the microcosmic orbit, moving erotic energy through the back of the spine and then down the front of the body. Many believe that touching the roof of the mouth with the tongue allows the energetic circuit to move fluidly.
Possibilities abound. You can close your eyes and move your attention through your body. You can clench and release muscles from a tantric perspective. You can try to find the smallest motion or muscle contraction that you can enjoy. This attention to physical, emotional, and rational detail can slow the race of thought, allowing insight to land with presence.
WORKING WITH TIME
Our default mainstream culture identifies four identifiable dimensions: length, width, depth, and time. Time–the fourth dimension–is viewed as relative in advanced mathematics and physics. I believe that there is immense potential to explore the relativity of time while in a manic or hypomanic state. In the flow of mania you can choose to either accelerate your perception of time or to slow it down. Slowing the perception of time is powerful. You can sync your blinking to music or to someone with whom you are sharing meditative space. By sinking into time we amplify the resonance of consciousness. Ideas will flow. Keep a journal handy and write down what comes. It will need to be sifted and edited once time slows down.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL
It can be both productive and grounding to focus manic energy on detail oriented tasks like deep cleaning and organizing space. These can be great times to deep clean your bathroom or to get on your hands and knees and scrub the kitchen floor. If there is some big mass of stuff or documents waiting to be sifted through and organized, now might be your time. Our capacity to hyperfocus on detail can also be directed into sorting through financial records or sifting through old lists of personal and business contacts. If attention to detail is required, consider the task–you might get a lot done while simultaneously grounding your energy.
EYE WORK
Our eyes are one of our most important portals to consciousness. While manic, many of us see things that are not visible to other people. Whether to call these spiritual visions or hallucinations is a matter of perspective. We can do powerful work with our eyes while manic. Slowing down to take in every visual aspect of reality can be illuminating. Fractals arise in many aspects of the natural world. These are shapes where contours of the smallest part mirror the whole. Tree roots and branches, shell formations, clouds, and much else can often exhibit these characteristics.
It can be helpful to cultivate your ability to see double. Attempt to dilate your eyes and let three-dimensional perception relax enough to see two of each image in your mind. Move through this breathing slowly, but allow yourself to use more activating breath wrok if this feels right. Seeing in parallax allows us to center the mutability of our own perspective. It can stimulate the fusion of new neural pathways. It can help us realign ourselves and the flow of time.
Blinking is another tool. It can be valuable to explore the extremes of minimizing blinking and blinking rapidly. When in public, doing this with sunglasses limits the risk of alarming other people. You can imagine that each blink creates a new moment. Flow with it and see what happens. I recommend slow deep breathing throughout as a means of keeping the manic energy grounded.
SINUOUS STRETCHING
Slow semicircles of the neck can be invaluable. I recommend a quick inhale on each side followed by exhaling as you move your head to the other shoulder. This can be done to music. I recommend at least a six count between single counts of breathing at each shoulder. More time circling is even better. One strength of this stretch is that it activates the parasympathetic system. Another is that your neck’s weight will stretch your upper back. Many of us store stress and anxiety in this area. It is an area that can become taut and over-activated during mania.
Another excellent technique is to stretch your back while lying on the floor. Sit with your knees up, then rotate your lower body to stretch your back as each vertebrae contacts the floor. You can stretch all the way up, working both your abdominal muscles and your lower back. This exercise can integrate your three bodies–physical, emotional, and rational. It can activate insight and forge new psychic pathways.
Releasing and contacting the abdominal region unleashes kundalini energy in the spine. Try sitting in any rooted position. Stretch your arms sideways from the shoulders. Allow a contraction to begin in your lower abdominals. As it moves through your spine, bring the arms in to flow with the contraction. When you release, extend the arms again. This is an excellent way of moving energy and attention. It activates chakras and amplifies mind-muscle awareness.
Another variation on this is to combine the contraction and release flow with extending intense energy from the hands. Place your hands directly forward and imagine that you are projecting electricity through your fingertips–like the Emperor in Star Wars. As you project this energy, deepen the projection when you contract. Come back to neutral when you release, and then expand the intensity with the next contraction. If you maintain a slow pace of breathing with this exercise, you will find that deep introspection and mind-muscle awareness is still in your grasp.
STRENUOUS EXERCISE
One powerful way to channel manic energy is exercise. This is a great time to hit the gym, take things slowly, and discover capacity you may not have known you had. Lots of cardio is great for tiring your system and opening up some space for sleep. Get out in nature with a long run or bike ride through your city. Dance classes or clubbing can be great outlets. There are many varieties of yoga that can also channel the physical drive while also offering spiritual grounding.
Be careful not to overdo it though. If you push beyond natural physical limits, you may injure yourself or trigger your brain into mass producing even more adrenaline. This might feel good in the moment, but it risks rewiring you for an even more protracted mania.
INTENTIONAL LISTENING
One of the first things that flies with the wind in mania is the capacity to listen. When hypomanic or manic, we tend to start thinking of the perfect reply or rebuttal to a person we are talking to, without even hearing what this person is saying. We are not powerless over this urge. Slow down and listen with intention. An increasing capacity to listen indicates the stabilization of mania. The process of intentional listening alters brain chemistry, functioning like an organic mood stabilizer.
It is good practice to tell people who are close to us that we are moving manic energy. Ask others to tell you if you are listening well. Ask them if you seem grounded. Attuning to people around us is key to stabilizing. When people react with alarm, fear, or suspicion we are being told to regulate our systems more rigorously. We are not powerless. We can restrain alarming instincts and synchronize with other humans and with nature.
ARTICULATING AND SLOWING SPEECH
A hallmark of mania is ‘pressured speech.’ Our words emerge with such speed and force that other people will want to duck. If someone shares that they missed what you say, try articulating intentionally and slowing the pace of your words. You may need to slow down to a point that feels absurd to you. But if those you talk to seem to follow you, this means that you are acclimating to collectively shared reality. It means that you are attuning to other humans who can help ground you.
Like intentional listening, this intentional communication strategy can alter brain chemistry with mood stabilizing power. It feels good to actually be understood. It helps you get insight into whether your wild ideas could be grounded in shared reality. Speaking with intentionality and care is a powerful skill while navigating manic energy.
THE FLOOD OF IDEAS
When I am hypomanic or manic, my mind moves at light speed. A new idea, project, or possible conversation strikes me every other second. The art is in the editing. I suggest finding a little committee to help you think straight. For me that’s my parents, my brother, and my sister by marriage. I make a commitment not to make any significant decision without running it by at least one of them. If they say it’s a bad idea, I commit to following their lead. Not everyone is blessed with a family they can trust and open up to. So maybe this is a couple of friends and a significant other for you.
I recommend taking note of all of your new ideas and setting an intention of saving them for later. It can be helpful to have a notebook to keep track. There will be gems in there. But there will be much that is grandiose, impractical, and even potentially catastrophic. Classically, this is called the flight of ideas. I call it a flood, because like the flood of the Nile, this mental space can give water to brilliant ideas and projects. The art of editing is essential.
FIRE MAGIC
Over time, I have found that fire can play a vital role in stabilizing and in cultivating the powers embedded in mania. Fire can captivate parts of your mind that crave overstimulation, allowing other parts to slow down and ground. A simple array of candles is an excellent way to start. Consider creating an altar with a layer of sand filled with crystals or other meaningful stones, and then candles.
The more adventurous among us might explore fire vessels. A fire vessel contains both intensely flammable elements and fire retardant elements. I build these with three layers. In the inner circle wax is combined with a fuel like kerosene with cotton fabric to act as a wick. The outer layer should contain water and perhaps soap, which is very fire retardant. Burning fuel may move from the inner layer into the middle circle. Latex paint and oil combined with water are good materials for the middle circle.
You can suppress the fire by churning the outer layer, using those elements to squelch flames that seem dangerous. You should always have a flame resistant vessel to smother the fire. No fire burns without oxygen, and smothering is your best means of extinguishing an intense fire in the inner circle.
With your fire vessel activated you can try many of these other tools. Music is powerful. Music interacts with fire both as waves of moving air, and as an energetic force. I find that music in my headphones still affects the fire. Ideas will emerge. Insights will arise. Keep your journal at hand and save these nuggets of wisdom to digest once the waters of mania still.
COLLECTIVE LIBERATION
The portal of mania can help us give voice to collective yearning for systemic change. This can be a great time to write about the world you want to see–to dream big and dream boldly. With mania we can have visions that need to be deciphered. We can feel our connection to all of lived experience and to our higher power–however we conceptualize the power of source energy.
We are rebels born and bred. Wired to reimagine the matrix of ideology and indoctrination within which we are embedded. Empower your inner spirit dreaming of collective liberation. Let empathy and compassion flow through you. Take time to treat everyone with whom you have a meaningful interaction with respect and love. When we model compassion and connection, we become fractals for systemic change–little ripples that form big currents that demolish walls of systemic injustice.
A MANUAL FOR MANIA
When I had my first hypomanic episodes, I had no words to describe them. My first florid mania landed me in a hospital diagnosed as a crack addict, pumped through with Haldol, and ejected after a one-stay. I lost years to paralyzing depression contrasted with years of reckless substance abuse. I chased the visions and energetic highs that came with mania, but struggled to harness any sustainable power from these episodes.
I have been through these fires and emerged as a phoenix. I write this to offer an evolving roadmap to actualizing the power and potential gestating within the manic depressive spectrum. I hope these tools help you. I hope you redesign them for yourself, and invent your own arsenal of skills and strategies. We have a world to win, and nothing to lose but toxic psychic chains.
visual art by Christopher G. Kempton: @cgkfineart on IG
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2025
