Everyone is wearing flip flops these days; they're light, loose, easy and inexpensive and show off our (hopefully pedicured) toes. But, unfortunately, they are also horrible for our feet. (Don't get me started on the fashion consequences).

Researchers at Auburn University found that wearing flip flops alters the way we walk, leading to serious sole, heel and ankle problems. Compared to people wearing runners, researchers found that flip flop devotees take shorter steps and increase the workload on the muscles of the feet. This can lead to eventual foot pain and chronic foot issues like plantar fasciitis and arch strains.

Our feet are intricate contraptions. Case in point, the foot and ankle contain 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. Our feet act as the foundation for the rest of our body and they provide us with support, balance and mobility. Thus, if there is any pain or tension in our feet we will eventually feel it everywhere else.

Having just returned from six weeks of travelling through Asia, I know two things for certain: I love adventure, and jet lag bites. Coming home involved more than 30 hours of transit time, complete with connecting flights and long waits at airports, not to mention the vast time difference when I finally landed.

Jet lag, in case you didn't know, occurs when the body's internal clock is forced to re-adjust after crossing several time zones. Symptoms include fatigue, stiffness and sluggish circulation that's ultimately caused by sitting in one position for a long time.

Although there's little you can do to avoid jet lag, I've found yoga does wonders for re-balancing and rejuvenating the body, as well as grounding and calming the mind. In fact, the first thing I did after getting a good night's rest (and, OK, watching the World Cup final) was head to a yoga class. And thank goodness I did. Certain poses worked wonders on my jet lag, and I'm willing to bet they'll do the same for you.

I'm preparing to leave on a six-week adventure through the Philippines, Thailand and India this week. The plane ride to Manila is approximately twenty-three hours and needless to say, I'm dreading it.

Thankfully, I have yoga. In order to maintain a happy disposition throughout the trip while dealing with the general stresses of travelling, I use yoga to help me find a physical and mental balance.

For those of you taking holidays this summer that require long flights, a few words of advice: Take care of your hip flexors, hamstrings and other muscles that will be crying for a stretch. Sitting for long hours on a plane can shorten muscles, which can lead to back issues. Doing yoga on the plane has its challenges, but there are some poses that we can do to help fight joint stiffness and prevent back pain.

Here are five yoga poses you can do on the plane:

1. Shoulder Rolls – Sit at the edge of your seat (to avoid rounding your back) with both feet on the floor. Inhale and lift shoulders up to your ears and exhale, roll shoulders back and down. Do this for 30 seconds to one minute.

One of the most common requests from students in my yoga classes is for us to devote part of the hour to ab work. And while it's definitely true that yoga can help tone abs, what students should be asking is to strengthen their cores.

We often think that core and ab-strengthening are one in the same, but ab muscles actually have a very limited and specific action, whereas the core consists of many different muscles that stabilize the spine and pelvis and run the length of the torso and trunk.

The major muscles of your core include:
- Transverse abdominus (deepest of the abdominal muscles)
- External obliques (these muscles are located on the side and front of the abdomen),
- Internal obliques (under the external obliques running the opposite direction),
- Rectus abdominus (run along the front of the abdomen)
- and the erector spinae (a collection of three muscles along your neck to your lower back).

Core strength will gives us a strong and grounded yoga practice. It allows us to transition from pose to pose in an effortless and relaxed manner and it helps give us better control over our movements, it also distributes the stresses of weight-bearing and protects the back.

The average rate of a drop-in yoga class in North America is $18. I agree with all of you shaking your heads right now, it's a high price to pay, especially if you're planning on attending classes regularly. Fortunately, there are options available that allow you to start relaxing without dishing out your life savings.

If you're planning on maintaining your yoga practice, you should definitely purchase bulk passes offered in groups of five, 10 or 20. If you want to go more than twice a week, consider buying a monthly pass. Either option works out to be much cheaper than the $18 drop-in rate. Most yoga studios also offer student rates and energy exchanges, where you work at the yoga studio in exchange for yoga classes.

Look out for community classes taught by teachers-in-training. They are significantly cheaper and you're giving a teacher-in-training the opportunity to build their teaching experience. Some studios also offer karma classes where you pay by donation.

It should be easy, but living in a fast-paced, results-oriented society we often have trouble with this simplest action -- learning to let go.

For many, being constantly on the move, staying one-step-ahead of the game and remaining in control of every detail of our lives is necessary for success. Yet, workaholics who strive for utter perfection in everything often suffer from anxiety and insecurities. Keeping on the move to keep your flaws hidden is not healthy, yet for many people it is the only way they can maintain a sense of order.

Luckily, there is a yoga pose that helps us practice letting go, it is called the corpse pose (Savasana). The idea being that death allows us to awake refreshed and renewed.

We live in a society where taller is better. Just look at the number of schemes, from supplements to surgeries, available to anyone desperate to add on a few extra inches.

Unfortunately, your height is determined by genetics and how well you were fed in your mother's womb and during the first few years of infancy. Besides that, what you have is all you've got.

Unfortunately, it seems height can really make a difference when it comes to your career. Fifty-eight per cent of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are over six feet tall, which is quite an alarmingly high statistic considering only 3.9 per cent of men are six foot two or taller. Studies have also shown that taller people have higher self-confidence and get paid more. For those of us who do not fall into the 'tall' category (the average height of an American man is five foot nine inches, and the average height of an American woman is five foot four inches), where do we go from here? I say, yoga.

While yoga cannot add inches to your existing height, it can, through correct realignment of your body, make you stand taller. Through breathing and stretching, yoga elongates your spine; it can possibly correct a curvature; free your body from restrictions; balance muscle structure and give muscles an adequate supply of oxygen.

Doing yoga poses correctly allows us to create space in our bodies and unblock stuck or stagnant energy. When energy flows freely, we invite transformation and healing into ourselves. When we do poses incorrectly, we lose out on the opportunity to receive the full physical and psychological benefits of a pose.

Here are six common yoga poses that I've witnessed many people in my classes do incorrectly. If you have been doing one or some of these poses incorrectly, notice the difference in how you feel when you get them right.

Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

Don't: Allow shoulders to come up to the ears. Slide shoulder blades down the back and keep collarbone wide. Think of growing taller by keeping neck long and reaching the crown of your head towards the sky.

Do: Evenly root your feet into the mat by spreading your toes and grounding the ball of the big toe, base of baby toe, inner and outer heels, lift up on inner arches. Engage your quadriceps by drawing them upward and rotate thighs inward.

Benefits: Tadasana improves posture, and strengthens knees, ankles and thighs.


Pashimottinasana (Seated Forward Bend)

Don't: Round your back as you fold forward. Instead, evenly ground your sitting bones into the floor, which promotes lengthening of the spine as you hinge at your hips. This stretches the entire spine.

Do: Ground your heels into the floor allowing big toes to touch and toes to point up towards the ceiling, this stretches the hamstrings as you fold forward.

Benefits: Seated Forward Bend improves concentration and calms the mind.

As someone who has experienced fluctuations in weight since my teenage years, I know there is no magic weight loss cure. And while I can't attribute any single factor to my eventual shedding of the pounds, I am sure that yoga played a major part. According to Health Canada you need 30 to 60 minutes of exercise a day, raising your heart rate to between 130 and 150 beats per minute, to see any weight loss results. A few types of yoga can raise your heart rate enough for weight loss.

Hatha and Restorative yoga classes are slow, with poses generally held for longer periods of time. Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Iyengar are all faster-paced, with the potential to get your heart rate up. It's all about trying out different classes available to you. I've attended classes where I've christened my mat with a pool of sweat and others where I didn't break a glow.