So let’s just address the obvious: stretching while naked is not for the faint of heart. Or the stiff of hamstring. I thought it would be this graceful, sensual, self-loving experience. Wake up, sip a latte, roll out my yoga mat, and gently greet the day with some bendy body positivity. What actually happened was that I pulled a butt muscle I didn’t know existed, my dog Moose barked like I was being murdered, and I kicked a lit candle clear across the room. I ended up in a semi-lunging panic, naked, trying to put out a smoking bath mat with a rolled-up Pilates ball. Welcome to my world.

I’m Kristin. I’m in my late 30s, I’ve been a nudist for a while, and while I’m passionate about freedom and stretchiness, I am by no means graceful. I stretch, I fall, I fart sometimes. But I’ve learned a lot. Mostly the hard way. And now I’m going to help you avoid at least 40% of my mistakes.

Nude stretching, for the record, is fantastic. There’s no waistband cutting off circulation to your lower intestines. No leggings bunching in your armpits. No bra strap digging in like it has a grudge. Just skin and air and your own willingness to wobble into something new. I started stretching regularly after slipping on a piece of lettuce in my kitchen. It was a life-altering salad. I went down hard and realized two things: one, I was not as young as I used to be; two, I needed to be more bendy or risk dying tangled in front of my fridge.

This book isn’t just about touching your toes while nude, although that’s a fun party trick. It’s about stretching your body, yes, but also your confidence. Your comfort zone. Your idea of what it means to take care of yourself when no one’s watching—and maybe when a few people are. Flexibility isn’t about doing the splits on top of a mountain at sunrise. It’s about reaching for the remote without groaning. It’s about doing a cat-cow stretch on your living room floor and realizing your spine is allowed to move that way. It’s about being naked and okay with whatever jiggles while you do it.

I’ll give you real tips. I’ll warn you about real dangers. (Slippery tile. Low ceilings. Stretching next to a dog.) But mostly, I’m going to tell you what worked for me, what didn’t, and how my best friend Tanya once got stuck in a yoga swing naked and had to be rescued with kitchen tongs. Get comfortable. And for the love of all things breathable, take your pants off.