Consider this your cheat sheet to mastering the common poses you’re likely to flow through in vinyasa class. Although it’s an ancient practice, yoga has become the exercise du jour in recent years. Sometimes it sounds like our yoga teacher is speaking in a different language, which makes it slightly difficult to follow along. With Sanksrit names like utkatasana and trikonasana, yoga poses may sound a lot more like spells you’d learn at Hogwarts than shapes you yoga positions actually get your body to make.

Consider it your cheat sheet to finally mastering the common poses you’re likely to encounter in most open-level classes. How to do it: Stand with feet together. Ground down evenly through feet and lift up through the crown of your head. Lengthen up through all four sides of your waist, elongating spine. The benefits: It may seem like you’re, well, just standing there, but bear with us—this is the blueprint for all other poses.

It promotes balance and directs your attention to the present moment. How to do it: Start in mountain pose. Raise arms and reach up through fingers. Sit back and down as if sitting into a chair. Shift weight toward heels, and lengthen up through torso. How to do it: Place hands on the back of a chair with palms shoulder-distance apart.

Step feet back until they align under hips, creating a right angle with your body, spine parallel with the floor. Ground through feet and lift through thighs. Reach hips away from hands to lengthen the sides of your torso. Firm your outer arms in and lengthen through the crown of your head.

The benefits: Downward facing dog is the bread and butter of yoga, but it can be challenging for beginners. This modification shares the same benefits as the classic pose—stretching the hamstrings, opening the shoulders, and creating length in the spine—without all the weight on your upper body. How to do it: From all fours, walk hands one palm’s length in front of you. Tuck toes and lift hips up and back to lengthen your spine. If you’re inflexible, keep your knees bent in order to bring your weight back into the legs.

Press into your hands, firm your outer arms, and reach your upper thighs back toward the wall behind you. The benefits: This classic pose opens your shoulders, lengthens your spine, and stretches your hamstrings. Since your head is below your heart, the mild inversion creates a calming effect. Turn left foot in slightly, and turn right foot out 90 degrees to the side.