Backbone with Kendra Elyse is a spoken word and narrative podcast exploring emotional healing, self-worth, and the process of coming back to yourself.
Through poetic storytelling, somatic reflection, and embodied expression, each episode creates space to feel, release, and reconnect with the body. These pieces are for anyone navigating change, letting go, or learning to choose themselves again.
The series begins with spoken word poetry and expands into short stories and cinematic storytelling.
New episodes every Thursday.
This podcast is a creative and reflective space and is not a substitute for professional mental health care.
The Body Kept It | Rage, Suppression & Listening to Your Body
There are things the body remembers—
long after the moment has passed.
Not in words,
but in tension…
in silence…
in what was never allowed to be said.
In this episode of Backbone, I share a spoken word piece titled “The Body Kept It”—inspired by sitting with the feeling of rage and noticing how it lives in the body when it isn’t expressed.
This isn’t about the loud, explosive kind of anger.
It’s about the quiet kind—
the kind you feel rise… and learn to move away from.
The kind that gets swallowed.
Redirected.
Stored in the body.
This piece explores:
suppressed emotions and unexpressed rage
somatic memory and where feelings live in the body
the moment we learn not to say what we feel
and how rage can become a signal—not something to fear, but something to listen to
If you’ve ever felt something deeply… and didn’t say it—
this piece will meet you there.
🎧 Best experienced with headphones. Take your time with it.
7 May 2026
Obedience Is Outdated: A Spoken Word on Sovereignty
This spoken word piece explores the moment of waking up to inherited patterns of obedience—and choosing something different.
Through breath, body awareness, and reflection, this episode moves through grief, ancestral memory, and the quiet realization that waiting for permission is often something we were taught… not something we chose.
If you’ve ever felt like you’ve been holding back, shrinking, or waiting for the right moment to fully be yourself, this is an invitation back into your body—and into your sovereignty.
This is about:
– releasing inherited emotional patterns
– honoring the body’s memory
– moving beyond people-pleasing and silence
– reclaiming your voice without needing approval
Take a breath.
Let your body listen.
30 Apr 2026
Healing the Eldest Daughter Wound | The Thaw (Letting Go of Over-Responsibility)
This is a spoken word piece about holding too much for too long.
It moves through the experience of being the one who carries, fixes, and feels everything… and what happens when the body finally begins to release it.
This piece is called Eldest Daughter, but it’s for anyone learning to come back to themselves.
Take what you need.
Let the rest fall away.
23 Apr 2026
Grieving What Never Happened | Processing Invisible Loss (Spoken Word Healing)
A spoken-word healing for the grief that often goes unnamed — the grief for what never was. This episode explores emotional healing, unmet needs, and how grief lives in the body through longing, exhaustion, and disconnection. If you’ve ever felt lonely in love or like you’ve been waiting to fully live, this is for you. A gentle invitation to release, feel, and come back to yourself.
16 Apr 2026
Balancing Who You Were & Who You’re Becoming | Living Between Two Versions of Yourself
In “2 Worlds,” I explore the experience of being a living ancestor—where body, breath, and memory meet. This episode moves through the space where present-moment awareness and ancestral echoes exist at the same time, offering a reflection on release, remembrance, and the body as a bridge between worlds.
9 Apr 2026
How to Reconnect With Your Body | Return to the Body (Somatic Healing & Presence)
What does it actually mean to be embodied?
In this episode of Backbone, Kendra Elyse explores embodiment not as something to achieve, but something to return to.
Through spoken word and reflection, this piece moves through the body as a living compass—guided by breath, rhythm, and the heart’s quiet knowing.
This is an invitation to slow down, reconnect, and listen inward.
To move at your own pace.
To trust your body.
To live from your true north.
Listen with your body.
2 Apr 2026
Learning to Feel Safe in Your Body | Integration (Being Met With Tenderness)
In this integration episode of Backbone, Kendra reflects on the inspiration behind the spoken word piece “To Be Met With Tenderness.”
After a meaningful conversation with a mentor who recognized the tenderness she carries, this episode explores the deeper realization that the care and softness we offer others is something we also deserve to receive.
Through gentle reflection, Kendra invites listeners to consider where their own tenderness is being honored—and where it may need to be protected.
Sometimes the most powerful act of self-awareness is simply recognizing the value of our own softness.
May you live well. May you be well.
2 Apr 2026
Learning to Be Gentle With Yourself | To Be Met With Tenderness (Emotional Healing)
In this episode of Backbone, Kendra shares a spoken word piece titled “To Be Met With Tenderness.”
Inspired by a meaningful conversation with a mentor, the poem reflects on the recognition that the softness and care we offer to others is something we also deserve to receive.
Through emotional reflection and embodied awareness, the piece explores the importance of gentleness, emotional safety, and the quiet strength found in tenderness.
Sometimes the most powerful realization is simply remembering that our tenderness is not a weakness it is something worthy of being met and honored.
May you live well. May you be well.
26 Mar 2026
Returning to Self Love | Love Is Me (Coming Back to Yourself)
This piece was created during my cycle — a time where I slowed down and allowed myself to feel everything that was coming up.
I sat with grief, ego, loneliness, and patterns of codependency I didn’t realize were still within me.
Instead of avoiding it, I stayed and listened.
The next day, the light returned — and so did my creativity.
This episode is about moving through the phases of shedding, awareness, and coming back to yourself.
A spoken word on self-love, embodiment, and realizing that the love you’ve been searching for… is already within you.
Includes a simple writing prompt at the end for reflection.
19 Mar 2026
Choosing Yourself After Love | Pearl in the Undertow (Letting Go & Healing)
In this episode of Backbone, Kendra Elyse shares the spoken-word poem “Pearl in the Undertow.”
This piece reflects on the vulnerability of opening your heart in relationship sharing your truth and wondering whether it will be met with care or left unanswered.
Through poetic reflection, this episode explores the emotional currents that arise when love, longing, and self-respect meet. It speaks to the moment of realizing your vulnerability is not being held the way you deserve and choosing yourself rather than abandoning your own worth.
Like a pearl formed deep beneath the surface, this poem honors the quiet strength that emerges through emotional depth, honesty, and self-return.
Backbone is a spoken-word series exploring embodiment, relationships, healing, and the wisdom held within the body.
New episodes every Thursday.
14 Mar 2026
Releasing Who You Used to Be | The Skin She Sheds (Transformation & Healing)
In this episode of Backbone, Kendra Elyse shares the spoken word poem “The Skin She Sheds.”
This piece reflects the process of letting go of old layers identities, expectations, and stories that no longer belong to us. Through poetic reflection, the poem explores surrender, transformation, and the quiet courage it takes to move through the unknown parts of becoming.
Sometimes shedding isn’t loud.
Sometimes it happens slowly, as we begin to trust the deeper rhythms within ourselves.
This spoken word piece is an invitation to witness the beauty of change and the power that comes when we allow ourselves to release what we’ve carried for too long.
May you live well.
May you be well.
I’ll see you soon.
14 Mar 2026
Letting Go of Old Versions of You | Shedding Layers (Personal Growth & Healing)
In this reflection episode of Backbone, Kendra Elyse speaks about the deeper meaning behind the poem “The Skin She Sheds.”
She explores how the process of shedding can appear in many forms throughout our lives — through relationships, identity shifts, motherhood, grief, and personal growth. Often the layers we release are the ones we once believed we had to carry in order to belong.
This conversation invites listeners to reflect on their own process of transformation and the courage it takes to allow ourselves to unfold.
Growth rarely happens all at once.
It moves in cycles — shedding, integrating, and becoming again.
This episode offers space for reflection, tenderness, and honoring the rhythm of change.
May you live well.
May you be well.
I’ll see you soon.
14 Mar 2026
Welcome to Backbone: Poems From the Body
Welcome to Backbone.
In this first episode, Kendra Elyse shares the heart behind this evolving body of work.
Backbone began as spoken word poetry and is unfolding into a cinematic and somatic storytelling space where emotion, embodiment, and personal transformation meet. Through poetry, reflection, and story, this podcast explores the journey of becoming shedding old layers, reconnecting with the body, and learning to trust the voice within.
Some pieces come from lived experience, while others are creative expressions and fictional stories inspired by the emotional landscapes we all move through.
This is a space for depth, reflection, and connection.
If you’ve ever felt deeply, searched for meaning, or found yourself rebuilding from the inside out, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Backbone.
May you live well.
May you be well.
I’ll see you soon
6 Mar 2026
Back Bone podcast trailer spoken word in storytelling by Kendra Elyse
Backbone is a spoken word poetry and storytelling podcast created by Kendra Elyse.
Through poetry, reflections, and evolving stories, this space explores embodiment, emotional depth, love, transformation, and the human journey of becoming.
Beginning with spoken word poetry and expanding into short stories and cinematic storytelling, Backbone invites listeners into the inner landscapes of identity, connection, healing, and self-discovery.
The first episode launches March 14, with new episodes every Thursday.
May you be well, may you live well — and I’ll see you soon.
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