The Art of Soul-Centered Healing: Ascending Into Wholeness Through the Heart – An Interview with Sonia Luckey, DNP

Can the heart become a bridge between science and spirit—and reveal the path to true healing?

Sonia Luckey spent years in the clinical world of medicine, including ICU units, hospital leadership, and academic research. Early in her nursing career, while preparing the body of a man who had just passed, the room shifted. She felt a undeniable presence fill the space, an awareness that opened her mind and heart to a deeper dimension of what happens at the edge of life. It was a moment that didn’t replace her medical training, but expanded it—awakening a lifelong curiosity about the mystery woven through the healing process.

Her path eventually led her from nurse practitioner and healthcare executive to hospital chaplain and soul awakening coach, weaving together science, psychology, energy work, and heart-centered presence. Sonia now guides women in regulating their emotions, reconnecting with their inner wisdom, and choosing a life aligned with their purpose.

Continue reading—or listen in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or YouTube—to experience Sonia Luckey’s grounded, compassionate approach to transformation.

Did you grow up wanting to be in the medical field?

Sonia Luckey: Actually, I really didn’t even know there was a difference. I grew up around the medical world from a very young age. When I was five, my mom was in a severe car accident. She spent years in and out of hospitals for surgeries, so that environment became part of my world.

I was always around hospitals, doctors, and nurses, watching them. I became a helper early on and witnessed how the body and mind heal.

So it wasn’t like you had options — you just figured, “I’m going to work in the medical field.”

Sonia Luckey: Yeah. It was just like, this is what’s going to happen. I’m going to work in a hospital. I would watch doctors, nurses, and techs and think, “Oh, maybe that… or maybe that.” Those were my field of choices instead of a field of careers.

I always wanted to be a writer, but I knew that whatever I did would evolve into healing people.

When you were a kid, did you watch medical shows on TV?

Sonia Luckey: I didn’t. But when I was in grade school, one summer, I happened upon a box in my parents’ garage full of old Reader’s Digest magazines. I discovered the series I Am Joe’s Body by J.D. Radcliffe, and I fell in love.

I read every single magazine in that box. I would flip straight to that article — Where’s Joe’s Body? It awakened this fascination in me: the way the body works, the intricacy, the science. I was enthralled. I didn’t need TV — I had that box.

My earliest curiosity about the body came from Encyclopedia Britannica — those clear acetate layers you could peel back.
Now I want to pivot slightly from the physical to the spiritual. Did you grow up with faith, or did your connection to spirituality come later?

Sonia Luckey: My parents were immigrants from Nicaragua, which is a very Catholic country, and I had an uncle who was a priest, so being Catholic was just a way of life. It’s what we did.

As I got older, I became curious about how my friends’ churches were different. How cool was that? So, I started exploring and attending different churches, fascinated by the differences. They say it this way, and they say it that way.

Then I got a job shelving books at the public library, and the section assigned to me was psychology, spirituality, and religion. I had access to all these books, and they didn’t mind if we opened them and read a little before putting them back. I soaked it all in.

I thought it all had to blend together. It must all fit. For me, science and spirituality never contradicted each other — they were just different ways of telling the same story. I was a mystic at heart, and I loved trying different ways of talking to God. What if I try it this way? Or this way?

It became a beautiful exploration, shaping my own understanding.

Were you processing your spiritual exploration with your family, or was it more private?

Sonia Luckey: It was a very private experience for most of my life. My parents came from a deeply Catholic background, and anything outside those lines just wasn’t welcomed. So I learned to keep my curiosity quiet and explore through books. If I had questions, I’d simply find another author and see what they had to say. That’s where my conversations happened.

At what point did you step into a deeper level of spiritual awareness — a moment where you felt you were awakening to a new level of consciousness?

Sonia Luckey: It happened during my first nursing job. I was still in school, only a second-year student, and I got a position in the ICU. On my very first day, a patient had just passed away. The supervisor said, “Let me take you in here and we’ll get him ready for the morgue.”

We walked in, and she pointed out all the tubes and monitors as she disconnected them. Then she handed me water and supplies and said, “Okay, we need to bathe him and get him ready. I’ll leave you to do that.”

I must’ve looked terrified because she stopped and asked, “You’ve never been around a dead body, have you?” My eyes were huge. I said, “No… but I can do it.” She nodded, walked out, and closed the door behind her. It was nighttime — quiet, still, surreal.

As I began bathing him, the room shifted. I could feel it change. There was a presence — not frightening, just unmistakable. I thought, I’m not alone here. He’s still here.

So in my mind I said, Okay, I really need to do a good job. I’ve got supervision.

As I worked, I was filled with a sense of awe. Time felt suspended. It was as if the universe and this moment were blending. The body was still on the table, but the soul that had lived inside it — I could feel him. I could almost hear him speaking.

It was the most beautiful, sacred experience. I was probably in that room for an hour, in almost an ecstatic state. After that, I loved working in the ICU, especially during transitions like that. I could always feel that presence.

That first experience changed my life — and the way I saw the world.

You spent many years in nursing and eventually moved into healthcare management and even academia. What drew you from nursing into management?

Sonia Luckey: I was working in a hospital in Long Beach during the gang wars, so there was a lot of violence, a lot of death, and a lot of fear. People were afraid to seek care, so they didn’t — which meant we often saw preventable illness at the late stages.

I became really interested in prevention. I thought, If I work somewhere else on the continuum, maybe I can change the picture. That’s when I went back to school for my graduate degree.

While writing my thesis, I started exploring spiritual beliefs and traditional healing practices across different cultures. I lived in an incredibly diverse city, and during the day I worked as a nurse practitioner. At night, I studied spirituality and energy medicine. I saw the difference it made when we integrated those elements into patient care.

When I moved into healthcare management, it was because I saw an opportunity to expand that approach. I began publishing articles and eventually helped found an Institute for Cultural Competency. I trained physicians and nurses on cultural health beliefs and the spiritual backgrounds of the patients they were serving. I traveled to various parts of the country where large cultural communities were present, helping clinicians understand their patients through a broader lens.

Management gave me reach — the ability to influence systems and collaborate nationally. And then, interestingly, everything built on itself. After completing my doctorate, I worked as a hospital chaplain. Without the technology, we had to use ourselves as the instruments of healing. It was a beautiful year.

Along the way, I began teaching doctoral nursing students at the university. My focus was on helping them recognize spiritual distress and learn how to approach it. What I discovered in my research was that when they recognized spiritual distress, many became uncomfortable — and backed away.

I taught them that this is precisely the moment to move closer, to come alongside the person.

Wherever I was in the healthcare continuum, I always found a way to bring forward that same idea — the one that began in my very first experience in the ICU.

What does spiritual distress look like in a patient, and what is the appropriate way for a nurse to respond?

Sonia Luckey: A lot of the symptoms resemble what we see in psychology — depression, withdrawal, loss of motivation. But underneath those symptoms is something deeper. Spiritual distress often shows up when someone feels like they’ve lost control of their life… when life didn’t turn out the way they hoped, or when they suddenly realize, My whole life is behind me, and I didn’t do what I wanted to do.

It looks similar across all stages of life because it boils down to the same questions: I’m here now. Did I do enough? What was my life about? What should I have done?
Whatever someone believes about those questions directly affects their emotional and mental state.

And what is an appropriate response from a nurse?

Sonia Luckey: To actually have the conversation.
Most people shut down and try to change the subject to something cheerful — Let’s talk about the weather. But the real response is being willing to sit in that moment and say:
What are you thinking about? Who do you want to be? What legacy do you want to leave? What would help you feel like your being here meant something?

In healthcare, people are so pressed for time that these conversations rarely happen. That’s why I loved chaplaincy — I had the time to sit, listen, and hold space.

I would tell nurses: if you see these signs, call the chaplain. Ask simple questions, such as, ‘Who is your support system?’ Who can we call to be here with you? Sometimes, just helping someone identify their community and their resources can bring relief.

You eventually transitioned into being a soul awakening coach. What called you to integrate science, spirituality, and psychology into this new chapter?

Sonia Luckey: For a long time, I lived two lives. By day, I was the healthcare executive, the academic. Nights and weekends, I was immersed in energy medicine and soul work. I kept them separate because I didn’t think my spiritual work would be welcomed — I was afraid of being seen as different.

But eventually, I couldn’t live that way anymore. I kept saying, I need to be my authentic self. I hardly knew what that meant, but I knew I needed to live my true purpose.

One morning at sunrise, standing on the beach — which was my ritual — I made a promise. I said, Okay, I’m going to do it. Open the doors, and I will walk through them. I will live my purpose. It was a blank check.

And be careful what you ask for — because that year, my life dismantled.
My marriage ended.
I was laid off.
Everything dissolved.

I went back to school and earned a master’s in spiritual psychology — partly as therapy for myself. Then, during the pandemic, I realized I needed to leave the safety of healthcare and meet people where they were. Everywhere I went, I met women going through the same transitions I had faced — longing, searching, awakening.

What saved me was fully connecting with my soul and finding my purpose. Once I did that, everything else finally made sense.

You primarily serve women now, correct?

Sonia Luckey: Yes.

Is there a certain demographic or stage of life you tend to work with? And what are the “presenting problems” — what women think is the issue — versus what’s really happening underneath?

Sonia Luckey: The women I work with are usually women like I’ve been — professionals, leaders, healers, givers. They’re the ones who give, give, give… until their cup is empty and they don’t know how to refill it.

They think they just need to “power through,” but they don’t even know what it looks like to care for themselves. I recently had a woman say, “We were talking about the eye of the storm… I don’t know what that means. I don’t understand what it feels like to be still in chaos.”

They’re often in transition — shifting careers, kids leaving for college, relationships ending. On the surface, it looks like burnout or high anxiety. Many experience high-functioning depression. They’re still showing up to work, running teams, leading companies… but underneath, they are exhausted, disconnected, and questioning whether there’s something more.

One of your guiding philosophies is “Unconditional love is the most powerful medicine.” Why is that foundational to your work?

Sonia Luckey: In psychology, when people are reacting to something or moving through something, it usually comes down to one of two things: love or fear.

Love dissolves fear faster than anything. Love yourself. Love for someone else. When we dig below the reaction — when we get all the way to the root — we end up there every time. And when someone finally feels love for themselves, that’s when breakthroughs happen.

It sounds like many of the women you serve are extremely high-functioning — living in the mind, trying to figure their way out of everything.

Sonia Luckey: Absolutely. We try to think our way through everything. That’s what we’re trained to do culturally. We believe all the answers are in the brain — but they’re not. The answers are in the heart.

The heart is powerful. Intuition is real. We talk about intuition in “new age” terms, but there are studies — particularly from HeartMath — showing that the heart receives information and sends it to the brain before we are consciously aware of it.

There are brain cells in the heart and heart cells in the brain. When we connect the two — when the brain and heart are working together — the body moves into coherence. Everything rows in the same direction at the same time.

And that coherence… that’s the true formula for healing.

Your second guiding philosophy is “Look for the growth and healing.” Why is that important?

Sonia Luckey: I use a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy in my work — that’s the psychiatry influence. For people who prefer that left-brain approach, there’s a process you can follow when something is challenging:

Become aware.
Catch it.
Check it.
Change how you think about it.

But I add a fourth question:
If this situation were for your growth or development, how would that change what you’re thinking or feeling?

Because for me, everything is for us. That’s my worldview. Even when something goes “wrong,” there’s something in it designed to help us grow. I can fight it, resist it, get angry… or I can look at it and ask, How can this make me stronger? What can I learn? How can I evolve?

If you approach life as if every moment contains a hidden curriculum for the soul, you will always find a space for growth and healing. Perhaps not immediately, but eventually you’ll see it.

Instead of “This person is just a jerk,” it becomes “This person is here for my growth and healing.”

Sonia Luckey: Exactly. I’ll even say to myself, This person is the greatest teacher.
It shifts everything.

Your third philosophy is: “To best support others, I must stay present and self-aware.”

Sonia Luckey: Yes. There’s no resting on my laurels. I may have decades of experience and education, but I haven’t learned it all — not even close. What I do know is that there is always more.

I stay committed to my own growth so I can keep expanding and serving my clients. I’m always asking: What can I learn that I can bring back to them?

Staying present, staying self-aware — that keeps me aligned with my mission.

There is always another way to help someone see their life differently so they can move forward.

You also created something called the ASCEND framework, which integrates spirituality, psychology, and evidence-based mental health practices. How do you bring all of that together in a coaching session?

Sonia Luckey: It begins with presence — and connecting to the heart. That’s where the deepest work happens. When you’re connected to your heart, you can move much faster and farther than when you’re trying to figure everything out from your brain.

What does connecting with the heart look like in a session? How do you begin?

Sonia Luckey: I use coherence practices, and I teach them to every client. When I worked in clinical psychiatry, it was the very first thing I taught new patients. I would say, “This may sound strange, but follow along — I can help you feel better in three minutes.”

I guided them through a heart-breathing coherence practice, which I still offer online. I could calm a patient down quickly, and once they were present, they could finally receive what I was saying. From there, they could access other tools, such as cognitive behavioral strategies, emotional awareness, reframing thought patterns, and rebuilding self-esteem.

Along the way, we pull in spirituality: What is your worldview? How do you make meaning of what’s happening? I use words like “mission” and “purpose,” but sometimes the purpose is simply getting through the week.

Coherence gives people a roadmap — a place to listen within.

It also teaches neuroplasticity, the science of creating new pathways in the brain. We are habitual thinkers, so most of us default to our old reactions. With new practices, we lay down new pathways. Over time, if they keep at it, the new becomes the default. That’s transformation.

I’m not only teaching the tools — I’m teaching the why, so they can apply these skills everywhere: with a partner, a friend, a boss. The toolbox is big, but all the tools support each other.

You’ve mentioned HeartMath — you’re certified both in HeartMath and something called Resilience Advantage. For those unfamiliar, what is heart-brain coherence, and what is Resilience Advantage Training?

Sonia Luckey: Most people are familiar with the fight-or-flight response — and the freeze response. The opposite is the parasympathetic nervous system, the “rest and digest” mode. Both systems originate in the brain. There’s a command center called the thalamus, and when we’re stressed — whether by something big or something as small as an email — the thalamus shuts down access to the higher brain.

In other words, the brain says:
Don’t think. React. Survive.

That’s why you can be holding your keys in your hand and still not find them — your thinking brain is offline. Most people live in this reactive state for hours, sometimes for the entire day.

The heart has the power to reopen communication with the brain.
Through coherence breathwork — focusing on the heart and bringing in elevated emotions like gratitude or appreciation — the heart begins sending signals that shift the entire nervous system. Suddenly, you can think clearly again.

This method is used in high-stress environments, such as the military, hospitals, law enforcement, and fire departments, because it helps people stay calm and recover quickly.

The Resilience Advantage Program is an eight-hour HeartMath curriculum that teaches these skills. It can be delivered in segments, and the goal is to make heart-brain coherence second nature. With practice, you can calm yourself in about 30 seconds.

So this is a learnable skill, right?

Sonia Luckey: Exactly — it’s learnable. And when you think of your body as a battery that needs recharging, these skills help you replenish that battery, giving you more capacity for resilience. With that capacity, people are less likely to spiral into depression, anxiety, or PTSD. It all comes back to emotional regulation instead of being at the mercy of whatever’s coming at you.

What role does physical well-being play in your coaching — supplements, sleep, movement, nutrition?

Sonia Luckey: It’s essential. If you’re trying to breathe and be centered while drinking energy drinks and five cups of coffee, your body won’t settle. We have to support what we’re doing — it’s a holistic system.

As a coach, I also bring the nurse practitioner into the room. If you’re not sleeping, that signals dysregulation. So we look at what will support you: movement, nutrition, and, if appropriate, supplements. Are you expanding vitality or draining it? When you move from depletion into regeneration, emotional balance and spiritual clarity follow. We’re whole beings.

You’re a triple threat — spiritual, psychological, and physical.

Sonia Luckey: And you’re doing your best — meditating, exercising, working on mindset. If I hear something and a flag goes up, I’ll offer simple support. For example, many people are deficient in magnesium; adding it can improve focus, sleep, and even meditation. That one shift can take your practice to another level.

Magnesium — I need to add that to my list.

Sonia Luckey: And vitamin D, and omega-3s. People often jump straight to medication, and sometimes that’s needed — but often we can try foundational supports first. Omega-3s, for instance, help some people with mood regulation. It’s a big topic — a whole episode by itself — but the point is: look at the whole system. That’s where the gold happens.

You recently contributed a chapter to an anthology called The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Soul-Aligned Business. Your chapter is titled Making Soul-Centered Choices. How do you define a soul-centered choice?

Sonia Luckey: A soul-centered choice is a decision guided by the inner compass of your truth rather than external expectations. When you pause and ask, Is this aligned with my soul? — clarity follows.

You can tell the difference. If you make a choice and feel resentful, tense, or knotted up inside, that wasn’t a soul-centered choice. But if you make a choice and feel peace or momentum afterward, that’s alignment.

In the chapter, I share the story of being laid off from my healthcare executive role. I had enough information to create a scene, to push back, to fight. Instead, I stopped, used coherence breathing, and asked myself, What is my goal here? What does my soul want?

And the answer was simple: leave with grace.

So I picked up my purse, walked out, and took myself to lunch. Looking back, I’m grateful. If I had reacted from emotion, the outcome — and the opportunities that followed — would have been very different.

One of the tools you write about in that chapter is something you call the Mood Meter. What is the Mood Meter, and how do we use it?

Sonia Luckey: The Mood Meter is an incredible tool created by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence — originally to help children. Research shows that most people have an emotional vocabulary of fewer than fifteen words. If you ask, How do you feel? People say, “good,” “fine,” or “bad.”

But when someone has a limited emotional vocabulary, they are more likely to use alcohol or drugs, get into fights, or struggle academically.

The Mood Meter changes that.

It’s a chart with around a hundred emotions, grouped by two factors:

• Energy level (calm or activated)
• Pleasantness (unpleasant or pleasant)

Someone can point to exactly how they’re feeling: frustrated, content, anxious, hopeful, cheerful. Then they can choose where they want to be instead — and that becomes the goal for the session.

If you can name it, you can navigate it.

I also connect emotions to physiology. When your emotion is in one part of the chart, your adrenals are in overdrive. When you’re in another part of the world, your body is in rest-and-digest mode, regenerating and renewing.

And then we pair it with HeartMath coherence. We identify the emotion, use the breathing, and within a minute, they shift and say, “Oh… okay.” And we go from there.

Once you know where you are and where you want to go emotionally, HeartMath breathing helps get you there?

Sonia Luckey: It’s a great vehicle to get you started. Sometimes it gets you all the way there, and other times, if the situation is more complex or long-term, it gives you a tool to use along the way. What I love about HeartMath breathing is that you can do it anywhere — you don’t have to close your eyes or step aside to be alone. Once you’ve practiced it, you can do it while driving. It becomes second nature.

And once the heart and brain are in coherence, your mind has more possibilities — more ways of thinking — which helps move you from one emotional state to another, right?

Sonia Luckey: Yes. When you reach coherence, you have more access to the higher functions of the brain — creativity, clarity, intuition — and over time, you also have access to the deeper intelligence of the heart. When you connect to that still point, you can see a field of possibilities that you couldn’t see before.

On top of all of this, you have a novel coming out soon called The Seventh Gate. What motivated you to write it?

Sonia Luckey: The book actually started as a self-help book teaching many of the tools we’ve been talking about. But during meditation — in that still point — I realized fiction allows me to share spiritual truths differently than I can in coaching or clinical work. Some people learn better through story.

When they see a character wrestling with something familiar, they begin to see possibilities for their own healing.

In The Seventh Gate, Sophia, a nurse, is undergoing a major transition. She begins experiencing mystical encounters that awaken her to spiritual dimensions. She’s navigating relationship challenges, career choices, and the desire to live her purpose. At the same time, forces from her past — and even deep past, from other lifetimes — try to take her power so she can’t fulfill that purpose.

It mirrors real life. Sometimes people benefit from you staying small. They like you where you are. But the journey in the book shows Sophia moving from self-doubt to self-trust, from separation to sovereignty.

My goal is to show readers that the gateway to transformation isn’t outside of them — it’s in their own consciousness. Everything they need is already within them. The work is simply to become aware of it and bring it forward.

When will the book be available?

Sonia Luckey: Our goal is early 2026.

If people want to experience what you do — the transformation you help create — I know you have The Permission Trap masterclass releasing the week this interview airs. Tell us about it.

Sonia Luckey: The masterclass is designed for women who are in major life transitions — to help them find their voice, clarify their purpose, and actually get it out into the world.

Many of us believe we need one more certification, training, or degree before we’re “ready.” I lived that. At one point, my brothers joked that I was only two letters short of the entire alphabet behind my name.

But I eventually realized: sometimes “preparation” is actually procrastination.
You are ready simply because you’ve lived through something.
You have a message — that means you have something to offer.
Don’t let limiting beliefs keep you from stepping into your purpose.

Where can people connect with you online?

Sonia Luckey: My website is sonialuckey.com. On Substack, you’ll find articles on the Mood Meter and coherence breathing. The coherence breathing practice is also available on my YouTube channel. And I’m also on Facebook.

If a woman listening today is in transition — kids leaving home, relationship shifts, career uncertainty — and she’s struggling, what encouragement would you offer her?

Sonia Luckey: First, I invite her to do what we just did: stop and take a breath. Come into your body. You spend so much time being there for everyone else — come back to yourself.

Take intentional breaths and connect your heart and your brain.
Acknowledge what you’re feeling — it matters.

You are worthy.
You are not alone.

Everything you need is already within your consciousness. You just need to reconnect. It’s been waiting for you all along. It’s time.

Sonia Luckey, thank you for sharing your story, your wisdom, and your work.

Sonia Luckey: Thank you for all that you do. Thanks, everyone.