Yoga inspiration for Aguilera’s new music

NEW YORK (AP) — Yoga is serving as inspiration for the upcoming album of Christina Aguilera (photo).

The pop star says that the physical and mental exercise is helping her find inner peace and influencing her music-making process.

“Taking a love for yoga and breathing... not looking at it as an exercise, but just feeling more one with the Earth and everyone being connected, it’ll definitely have a reflection on the new record,” Aguilera said in a recent interview.

She has “loosely been working on my record for a couple years now,” even when she was pregnant with her now one-year-old daughter.

And now, “I’ve made a lot of headway and progress on the record, and you will see sort of the difference between this record and others in the past.”

Aguilera, 34, said she wants to release a new album, a follow-up to 2012’s Lotus, next year. “I am hoping for it to be next year and maybe around the time ... I return for (live episodes of) The Voice Season 10.”

This month, she is pre-taping the beginning of Season 10 of NBC’s The Voice, which will air next year. Season 9, with Gwen Stefani in Aguilera’s chair, premiered last month.

Aguilera says she’s been keeping her big voice intact in between albums and tours, and she’s learned to care less about being a technical singer and has learned to develop a “signature style.”