Have your parents ever told you to stand up straight? Maybe they have even poked your back when you were least expecting it to remind you not to slouch?

My parents did it all the time. Especially my mom.

It used to annoy me tremendously, to the point where when I caught myself slouching I did nothing to correct my posture.

Today no one tells me to keep my back straight. Instead the occasional neck and shoulder pain reminds me about it.

In reality, the benefits of having perfect posture go far beyond simple back pain prevention. In many cases proper posture reduces tension headaches, fatigue and eye strain, improves blood circulation and digestion, enhances sleep and makes us appear younger and more confident.

Unfortunately, overcoming bad posture habits is not that easy, especially for those of us who work in front of a computer all day.

I do not know about you, but I do a lot of sitting these days. I sit at my desk for 6-7 hours. I sit as I drive home. I sit at the dinner table with my family. I sit during the long intercontinental flights between the US and Italy. I sit while I wait for my appointments.

All this sitting puts a lot of strain on my back.

I have to go to great lengths to correct my posture and stop myself from slumping and tensing my shoulders.

Here is a complete list of 10 Easy Tips  for Perfect Posture that I find very helpful:

1. Learn what perfect posture feels like

For those of us, who have been slouching for years, sitting or standing with a straight back may feel weird and even uncomfortable. This is the power of habit. If you want to break it, you need to know what proper posture feels like.

Try this: raise your head, free up your diaphragm by straightening your back area, and roll your shoulders back, sort of relaxing them into the correct position. You can double check yourself by making sure that your ears, shoulders and hips make one straight line. As you straighten your spine, you will notice that it becomes much easier to breathe.

2. Try the Balloon Method

What I call “The Balloon Method” is a little visualization exercise that I learned years ago when I was doing artistic gymnastics. This visualization alone has done miracles to improve my posture.

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The holiday season is a wonderful time. The air is filled with joy, anticipation, the twinkling of lights and the sounds of holiday music. And without noticing, we get into a Holiday mood, buying and wrapping gifts, spending more time with friends and focusing on the people that mean the most to us.

The only problem I see during the Holiday season is food, or to be more specific it is the QUANTITY.

Usually in the four weeks from Thanksgiving to New Year I gain a few pounds which I later have to lose. This year is going to be different!

And it can be different for you as well.

Instead of kicking off the New Year with a resolution to lose weight, why not make a Pre-resolution to stay fit and heartburn-free over the holidays?

Here are 22 Great Tips that can help us have a great time without putting on extra weight:

1. Have a smaller variety of food on the table.

The greater the number of dishes on the table, the more we and our guests will end up eating. The temptation to sample a little bit of everything is what makes us feel stuffed, sleepy and bloated before the dinner is over.

You can serve fewer dishes and still make your holiday dinner feel festive. A great way to do this is to put the same appetizers and snacks into 2-3 smaller bowls and set them on different sides of the table. If you have vegetarians for dinner you can also make similar salads in two versions: vegetarian and not.

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It is safe to say that over the past decade meditation has become one of the most popular and most effective relaxation and self-development methods. It is now practiced by people of all ages, faith traditions, lifestyles and social backgrounds.

• Doctors actively recommend it to their patients to help them cope with an increasing amount of work stress, to cure insomnia and even to speed up physical recovery.
• Vast psychological research continues to uncover new “mental” benefits of meditation: from enhanced focus and ability to quickly enter the state of flow to improved decision-making skill.
• Many active meditation practitioners, who take up this practice out of curiosity or for health purposes soon discover something that goes beyond simple stress relief. They gain greater understanding of themselves. Their relationships with people improve. They develop a more optimistic outlook on life and learn to handle effectively whatever comes their way.

And these are only a few of the benefits meditation has to offer. You can read the full list here.

If you are new to meditation or would like to make it a part of your daily ritual, here are 3 of my favorite Simple Meditations that I have personally practiced for more than 10 years now:

1. One-four-two breathing.

One of the simplest and most powerful meditations for both beginners and long-term practitioners is deep breathing exercise. In our hectic lives more and more people feel rushed, overwhelmed, and literally out of breath.

One-four-two meditation is a great way to slow down, relax your body and quieten an overly agitated mind.

Method:

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