Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

First Author (Year)	Country	Study Design	Participants with sample size	Intervention details	Outcome measures	Findings
Chuntharapat et al., 2008 [18]	Thailand	Randomized Controlled Trial	18 − 35 years primigravid women 66 (Yoga group-33; control group-33)	Yoga asanas, chanting om, breathing awareness, yoga nidra, and dhyana 60-min practice sessions at the26–28th, 30th, 32nd, 34th, 36th, and 37th week of gestation.	State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; The visual analogue scale total comfort (VASTC); Maternal comfort questionnaire (MCQ); The visual analogue sensation of pain scale(VASPS); The pain behavioural observation scale (PBOS)	Practice of 30 mins of yoga, at least thrice for 10 weeks facilitates in maternal comfort, decreasing pain during labour, and 2 h post-delivery and shortening length of labour
Martins et al., 2014 [19]	Brazil	Randomized Controlled Trial	14–40 years of age, 12–32 weeks of gestation. yoga group −21 and control group −24	asanas, breathing, meditation and relaxation	VAS, lumbar pain provocation test, posterior pelvic pain provocation test	yoga decreased pain intensity in lumbar and posterior pelvic region
Jahdi et al., 2017 [15]	Iran	Randomized Controlled Trial	sixty primiparous women, aged 18–35 years	1-hour supervised yoga class, three times a weekly, starting at 26 weeks gestation.	Labour pain and discomfort level measured using a Visual Analogue Scale	Yoga during pregnancy may reduce pain of labour and improved adequacy of childbirth.
Karnasih 2018 [13]	Indonesia	Randomized Controlled Trial	22 (Yoga group-11; control group-11)	asanas, chanting om, dhyana, yoga nidra and breathing awareness	VAS at 2–4 cm of cervical dilatation	In yoga group-duration of second and third stage of labour was decreased, labour pain score decreased, C- section decreased
Bolanthakodi et al., 2018 [16]	India	Randomized Controlled Trial	150 (Yoga group-75; control group-75) primigravida, 20–35 years of age, gestational age of 30weeks	30-min practice sessions at 30th, 32nd, 34th, 36th, 37th, 38th, and39th weeks	Alleviation of labour pain was assessed by using numerical pain intensity scale(NPIS), pain behaviour observational scale(PBOS),and maternal delivery comfort questionnaire	in yoga group decrease in oxytocin augmentation, intravenous analgesics, in number of vaginal deliveries, length of labour shortened, tolerance of pain is better in study group
Mohyadin et al., 2021 [14]	Iran	Randomized Controlled Trial	84 (Yoga group-42; control group-42) primigravida, above 18 years of age.	six 60-min training sessions for every 2 weeks from week 26 of pregnancy and continued until 37 weeks of gestation.	State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, labour pain - Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)	Practicing yoga during pregnancy mayreduce women’s anxiety during labour
Rahayu et al., 2023 [12]	Indonesia	Non-randomized experimental study	59 primigravida females (Yoga group-30; control group-29) with 20–35 years of age.	modified Iyengar yoga weekly once with 90 min of duration for three months	Degree of anxiety- Hamilton Scale Rating for Anxiety (HSRA) labour pain - Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)	Iyengar yoga in primigravida women was beneficial in reducing labourpain and anxiety.
Esencan and Rathfisch (2023)[19]	Turkey	Randomized Controlled Trial	90 (Yoga group-30; control group-60) primiparous pregnant women	yoga and meditation for 60 min two times a week for 10 weeks.	State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire, Childbirth Self-Efficacy Scale (CBSEI) Short Form Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire Version B, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain.	Yoga and meditation are effective methods for reducing pain and fear perception and increasing self-efficacy and vaginal delivery rates during the labour