Both pregnancy and labor can be highly stressful events in any woman's life due to many
physiological and psychological changes that may cause several problems. The psychological
stress is magnified in high-risk pregnancies, where there are higher chances of complications.
In spite of mounting evidence with strong correlation between maternal stress and pregnancy
outcomes, the present conventional management of the pregnancy complications considers
preterm delivery as the most viable treatment option, and this can substantially jeopardize the
health of the newborn. Therefore, prevention of these serious pregnancy complications would
have high public health and economic significance. In low-risk pregnancies, the effects of
exercise and other complementary therapies have been investigated. In particular, there are a
few trials, related to the present study, that have used yogic practices in their investigations.
These studies have shown yoga to be an effective therapy for treatment of several lifestyle
related diseases that are also known to be major risk factors for pregnancy complications
including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. Therefore, there is a need to look at
traditional practices, which help in yogic lifestyle for positive health during pregnancy and
offer a strong social acceptance for making pregnancy and childbirth a spiritual experience.
Furthermore, yoga has been documented to improve pregnancy outcomes in part by reducing
maternal stress. This randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of yoga in
prevention of pregnancy complications in high-risk pregnancies for the first time.
