Gisele Bundchen mediates when she's in a taxi.

Gisele Bundchen

Gisele Bundchen

The 36-year-old supermodel insists spending time in heavy traffic doesn't have to be a stressful experience and if she can "centre herself" during the hectic journeys, it makes for a better travel experience.

Speaking at the David Lynch Foundation's Women of Vision Humanitarian Awards, she said: "The back of the taxi seems an unusual spot to meditate but sitting in traffic while rushing around the city is the perfect time to centre yourself because it makes the ride better."

The blonde beauty - who has children Benjamin seven, and Vivien, four, with husband Tom Brady - has been meditating since she was in her early 20s and thinks its easy to make time for it wherever she is and whatever she's doing.

She told Vogue: "The thing about meditation is that you can do it anywhere. And I've done it everywhere. On planes, the back of a taxi, sitting in hair and make-up - because of my job, sometimes you're doing make-up for hours and hours and hours - in my bed in the morning, in nature, anywhere.

"All you need is 20 minutes. Even with a schedule like mine, I can find 20 minutes. For me, I love to do it early in the morning before the kids are up. The energy is very calm."

And Gisele believes her morning meditation sessions before the rest of her household are up help make their home a more calm place.

She said: I like to do it in the mornings because the energy is very calm. It's dark; I like to put a candle on. For me, it's a ritual. The way I see it is that you have to put the oxygen mask on yourself first before you can put the oxygen mask on the people around you. If I nourish myself in the morning, when the house energy starts revving up, you have so much more to give.

"As a mother, you're always giving. It's important to give something to yourself, so you can give from a place of being full, instead of giving from a place of being depleted, which isn't healthy for you or for the family.

"If I don't do it in the morning, it's a very different energy--the dogs are barking, the kids are saying they are hungry, it's so chaotic, there's this and that . . . when I wake up just 30 minutes before everyone else, it makes a world of a difference. It pays off."