Alicia Keys: Meditating has made me a better mother

Alicia Keys says meditating has given her a "whole new perspective".

The ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ hitmaker tries to fit in some time to relax each day whether it’s for an hour or just a few minutes as she feels it makes her more "sturdy" as a person.

She said: "It definitely has given me a whole new perspective. I’m overly accommodating, like sickeningly so. I’m becoming better at that …

"Some days I have 15 minutes, some days I have 40 minutes, some days I have five minutes where I have to take that time, because if I don’t I literally feel off. And I can tell the difference in the choices that I’m making … my centre is off. I feel shaken a bit more, but when I do it I feel sturdy."

And whilst the 35-year-old singer – who has Egypt, six, and 21-month-old Genesis, with her husband Swizz Beatz – tried and failed to make time for meditating before, she realises there is more of a reason now because she is a mother to two wonderful sons.

Speaking onstage at Brooklyn’s WME’s Together conference, she added: "I needed to clear the negative space, the negative people in my space … which probably should’ve happened years ago. But now, there’s even more of a reason. My purpose is so much bigger, it’s so much bigger than me …

"It’s been really important for me. I started time and time [again], tried it, fell asleep. But now it’s a need. It’s a yearning, a desire."

Meanwhile, Alicia previously revealed she "respected herself for the first time" when she became a mother.

She said: "I think that was the biggest change for me when I had my first son. I really kind of respected myself for the first time. I know that might sound weird, but I feel like in a lot of ways I did."