ANAHEIM, Calif. On Tuesdays and Fridays when the Astros are home, a yoga instructor and a handful of players occupy the Astros press conference room at Minute Maid Park, a space used more commonly for manager Bo Porters nightly media debriefings.

Hosted by instructor Christin Staszesky Harper, the classes began last season. Participants have included Wednesday nights starting pitcher, Collin McHugh, as well as Anthony Bass, Dallas Keuchel and Brett Oberholtzer. The classes are open to the entire team, even if cerebral pitchers have found their way through the doors more often this season.

It helps with mobility, it helps with core stability, Astros strength and conditioning coach Jake Beiting said. And then secondarily, I think its a really good mental benefit when you look at being able to teach yourself to keep your body relaxed kind of keeping your mind in the moment.

Baseball is in many ways a violent sport, every play just another burst of intensity. Yoga, at first glance, might not seem a relevant fit. But its use in baseball and other professional sports has taken off because of the potential gains in breathing, strengthening of core muscles and focus.

Matt Repplinger, a Denver-based baseball yoga consultant, said that even compared to two years ago, yogas practice has grown immensely in the majors.

Id say that 60 percent of the teams have someone working with them now, Repplinger said. From the Mets, to the Phillies, from the Dodgers to the Rockies, they have got either a full-time or a part-time instructor.

Veteran Chad Qualls was with the Padres in 2011, and in spring training, they had mandatory yoga sessions on occasion.

Ive done pilates, I liked pilates, said Qualls, who isnt a yoga practitioner himself. In San Diego, they just did (yoga) in spring training. It was like once a week, instead of doing poles or sprints or something, our cardio for the day would be a half-hour, hour yoga class. Just to get people a little more flexible, change it up a little bit.

It was around (when I first got to the majors). I think people have always tried to gain an edge anywhere. You hear of football players doing ballet. Im just a naturally tight person, my hamstring, lower back, hips have always been tight. Some people that are more flexible, youre more loose and you feel better, the more you stretch, the more you get limber, the better youre going to feel on a daily basis.

Some teachers approach yoga with a spiritual element, which might deter some people immediately, Beiting said.

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Astros find utilizing yoga beneficial

NEW YORK (WABC) --

So imagine doing yoga alongside hundreds of others, and at a world famous museum.

That's what is planned for Thursday. And it's all about the power of community, getting together for a physical and quite possibly spiritual experience alongside some famous artwork, right in New York City.

A yoga mat in a setting like the Museum of Modern Art, and you might have a hard time turning your gaze inward, because it's in the sculpture garden at MOMA. 700 yogis will do yoga right there.

"The art that surrounds us, the intention that surrounds us, absolutely informs the practice," said yoga teacher Elena Brower.

She will be one of the instructors. The event is put on by Lole, a French sportswear brand.

"Lole means live out loud everyday, and we want to bring that in every city and to as many people as possible," said Isabelle Mille of Lole.

And they're doing it through the Lole White tour, which has been held all over the world at iconic spots, with everyone wearing white.

"It's such a beautiful thing. We get together hundreds of yogis, thousands of yogis, all dressed in white for peace and purity," said Brower.

And Elena also designed some of the pieces. Apparently you can be fashionable while doing those downward dogs.

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Yoga comes to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City

This will loosen up those joints.

The City Parks Foundation is providing free yoga for seniors at Cunningham Park in Oakland Gardens one of the best-kept secrets in town, seniors say.

Youre out in the open, in nature. Look at the sky here! said Stephen Liebman, 64. Youre meditating with the trees.

The class runs Tuesdays and Thursdays through June 20 at 10 a.m., and has a loyal group of about 10 all over the age of 60, who say the deep stretching and exercise is like WD-40 for their bodies and keeps them one step ahead of their children on the coolness curve.

I feel great, said Sandy Mounsey, 65. My asthma has improved 100% since I started!

Even the groups instructor, Bill Ryan, is nearly a senior, a 57-year-old tractor trailer driver for Con Ed who took up yoga in 2008.

A lot of guys dont realize the benefit, they think its a girls thing, said Ryan, who has tried to get his son into the practice.

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Queens seniors getting free yoga courtesy of city nonprofit

Now that Microsoft has let the Surface Pro 3 cat out of the bag, we can stack it up against existing alternatives to see how it measures up with the rest of the market.

The Surface Pro 3pricing and spec rumors that were whispered prior to Microsofts event turned out to be true. Five configurations are offered, with the base model Surface Pro 3 starting at $799, and the high-end maxing out at an eye-popping $1,949. Sure, there are other laptops that are priced much higher than that, but theyre outside of the Surface Pro 3s weight and spec class, which makes those comparisons unfair.

However, Lenovos Yoga 2 Pro, which we reviewed back in November, is more than a fair match-up for Microsofts newest laptop/tablet hybrid. So how do the two measure up against one another?

Well take you through the two devices step by step, starting with specs, and including design, as well as price. Weve already matched up the Surface Pro 3 with the 11-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Air, and the Yoga 2 13. Now its the Yoga 2 Pros turn.

Surface Pro 3

Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro

As you can see in the chart above, the Surface Pro 3, and the $1,299 version of the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (theres also an $1,199 model) match up pretty evenly. Thats until you look at the CPU found in each device.

The $1,299 version of the Surface Pro 3 is powered by an Intel Core i5-4300U processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. Meanwhile, the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro packs an Intel Core i7-4500U running at 1.8 GHz. Considering that the two carry the same amount of storage (256GB SSDs) and RAM (8GB for each), the Lenovo has a clear advantage here on the strength of the better processor that it wields. On the graphics front, both the Surface Pro 3 and Yoga 2 Pro have Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPUs, so theyre even in that respect.

Measuring 11.5 x 7.93 x 0.36 inches and weighing 1.76 pounds, the Surface Pro 3 is clearly thinner and lighter than the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (12.99 x 8.66 x .61 inches, 3.06 pounds). However, as a convertible, the Yoga 2 Pro is much more of an acrobat than the Surface Pro 3, allowing the user to put it in one of four modes: laptop, tablet, tent, and stand. Nevertheless, the Surface Pro 3 wins on portability here.

But what about usability? As we mentioned before, we reviewed the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro in the fall, and found that it has a superb keyboard. Meanwhile, the Surface Pro 3 doesnt even include one to begin with. Youll have to shell out an additional $129.99 for Microsofts Surface Pro Type Cover accessory in order to add a physical keyboard to Redmonds newest device, and its inferior to the Yoga 2 Pros to boot. Unfortunately, doing so brings also its total price to $1,428.99.

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Surface Pro 3 vs Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro: Specs, features, and prices compared

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

PsychologistElaine Arons research on a temperament category she describes as the highly sensitive person (HSP) has been gaining increased attention in recent years, and giving many people a big aha moment. Could you be among the 15-20 percent of the population she believes make up this group? Ive learned that I am, and finding this out has changed the way I look ateverything.

When I was a kid, the taste of many foods was unbearably intense, and certain sounds were, too. I had a vivid imagination and experienced acute awareness of emotions both my own and those of others. Yet I was not shy. Somtimes I would get so overstimulated I would find myself talking constantly, a tendency that earned me the nickname Loquacious Lynn from my mother and demerit points in school. I was transfixed by odd things: once, at summer camp, I stood paralyzed by the side of a stream, knowing that when I reached the other side I would be older and could never reverse the flow of time. I felt and saw things that enchanted and sometimes frightened me.

I grew up thinking I was most definitely weird, if not a tad crazy, and tried to send these peculiarities underground so Id appear normal. The effort was exhausting.

According to Aron, a lot of kids grow up feeling flawed (and perhaps medicated on that assumption) when they are not really flawed at all they are just expressing a trait well within the normal human range: high sensitivity. In some cultures, such as Japan, the trait is highly valued, though sadly, this is often not the case in Western society, and such children can experience negative or confused reactions from peers and adults. In the 2011 documentary Bully, a child who commits suicide in repsonse to bullying shows his first signs of being different as high sensitivity to loud noises, a fact no one comments upon as linked to his distressing experiences at school.

An HSPs temperament appears to be largely inherited (revealed through twin studies and other research), though environment plays a key role in how it develops. If the child is either overprotected or chastised for expressing what is for him or her perfectly normal, problems develop. Researchers who study the brain find that HSPs are aroused by stimuli that may not be detected by others and their difference has to do with how the brain processes information. They cant change what they are, though they can learn how to cope and monitor themselves.

High sensitivity can be seen in other higher animals, too. From an evolutionary standpoint, the trait is valuable in a group. While you dont want everyone, or even most members to have it, heightened sensitivity in some individuals is beneficial: They can warn of potential danger, make acute observations of the behavior of other animals, and share the wisdom of their tendency toward greater reflection. In history, HSPs would be the priest-advisors in the community. Today they are often the artists, teachers, researchers, and judges.

In the modern world, the trait has both positive and negative aspects. On the good side, you may be better able to spot errors and process information to deeper levels in your brain. On the bad side, you can react to false alarms and become rattled by loud noises and other stimuli. Caffeine and medicines may cause you to react more than most. Aron has also observed in her work that HSPs who had difficult childhoods are particularly prone to anxiety as adults.

According to Aron, this trait is not a new discovery, but it is something that has often been misunderstood and culturally devalued, making life challenging for people who live with it. Here are some things that tend to be associated with HSPs. (You can also take aself-testonline.)

1. You were described as sensitive or shy as a child.You were the kid who knew what somebody was about to say before they said it. You reacted strongly to changes in your environment. Maybe you were the one who paused to watch before jumping into the game. Aron emphasizes that while most HSPs have been labeled shy, a full 30 percent have not and would be described as extroverted. She notes that some observers, like Susan Cain in her best-selling bookQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Cant Stop Talking, may really be talking about sensitivity when they discuss introversion. Being highly reactive to stimuli does not necessarily mean you dont seek out crowds or new acquaintances, although it often does. The key underlying trait is sensitivity, not inhibition. Some HSPs are actually sensation-seekers stimuli can bring them intense pleasure as well as discomfort.

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6 signs you could be a highly sensitive person

By Anthony Meindl | Posted May 20, 2014, 3 p.m.

Construct: an idea containing various conceptual elements; typically one not based on empirical evidence.

We have so many constructs built around life: what success looks like, what love and happiness look like, how shot business works, etc. But what if we realized that those very constructs can also be part of the paradigm (and prison) that keeps us from actually enjoyingand livingthe lives we have now?

I guess its human nature. From an early age were painted pictures and spoon-fed images of what our future is supposed to look like. Once we get there everything weve been taught when were kids will be fulfilled, and well live happily ever after.

But what if those constructs are illusions? At one level, they can be positive because they keep us on target for creating goals and having a vision and pursuing our dreams.

But at another level, they can have a negative effect because they make us denigrate what we currently have in favor of some future thing. They make us compare and despair, and live our lives constantly chasing the construct rather than celebrating what is in our lives now. This can show up in life in the form of complaining, feeling depressed and hopeless and self-critical, to becoming cynical and jaded, and eventually just giving up.

Constructs can lull us into this anesthetized state of taking things for granted, so we end up ignoring what we do have in favor of constantly focusing on what we dont.

Life, however, can equalize those constructs. Battling a serious illness will do that, getting older, watching a parent decline, losing someone, witnessing tragedy. These life events generally shake us awake into living and fully celebrating our lives right now rather than waiting for some idealized future.

But why must it take these kinds of events to wake us up?

The art of acting is a great teacher of life, as it reminds us that in order to fully embrace each moment as it happens, we have to first be there to receive it. It works exactly like the mechanics of life itselfour constantly being distracted by the ideas of a moment or how to say a line or what we think a character looks like or how we want a scene to goputs us in our head trying to fulfill constructs that are never as good (or real) as the real thing. The work is to get out of our heads and live the moment.

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Why Actors Need to Break Free from Social Constructs