Hello everyone. My name is Richie and I just started the yoga for complete beginners course. Doing Sukhasana & Dandasana I cannot believe how tight I am around my hips & shoulders. In fact everywhere feels tighter. It was actually quite intense at times. Still it’s early days yet. So my question is this. How often should I practice as a returning beginner, 30 mins daily, 45 mins or 1 hr. And should I do a course tailored to relax these areas. Thanks in advance.
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Hello! Congrats on getting started with a yoga practice. 
As for class times as a beginner, of course it depends on the time you have. Getting a regular practice going is super helpful and helps you stick to it. If you have time every day, great. If you have time three days a week, great.
Staff pose (dondasana) is truly a challenging pose and can make you very aware of your hip flexors! So maybe don’t choose classes that have long periods of time in this pose every day. And you might enjoy checking out any of David’s “Deep Release for the (fill in the blank)” classes. He has one for the hips and lower back that is very popular, and there is also one for the shoulders. (Go to the “ Practice” link at the top of the dywm page, choose “classes” and then choose his name in the “Teacher” filter and start looking through the results. The Deep Release classes are a little older and will be on later pages of the results, but there is alot of other good stuff on those earlier pages too).
Happy practicing!
Oh! And I forgot to mention, you can bend your knees a bit in staff pose to give you a bit of relief in the hips…no shame in that! Some people just have really tight hip flexors!
go slowly and regularly. Good for you for starting and continuing.
Thank you for your reply. Regards Richie
Longer classes tend to have more time dedicated to warming up at the beginning and doing cool down stretches/poses at the end so that might work better for you until the tightness eases up. Specially if you’re not getting any or much stretches or movement in around the classes. I’m at an intermediate level and usually have a regular practice but even then if I don’t get enough walks in to counteract all the time sitting at the desk, or miss too many days of practice or other exercise, the hamstrings and hips get too tight. In that case I prefer to do a 45 min class or longer to help reset.
It also might be helpful to use bolsters or a block for additional support under the knees or to sit on. And in sukhasana, if you’re not already doing this, let the legs come to the cross position naturally (as opposed to moving them into position with your hands) as that will keep you from forcing them into a tight cross.
I also recommend a quick head to toe warm up and stretch every day that you can do standing. I do it first thing, just 5 or 10 mins and it’s been a game changer in preventing/lessening tightness in general.
millimeter miracles add up to miles over time. Time and patience, a few times a week would be so beneficial for your body as you learn to untangle tension and remember space. The time per practice is lest important than consistency.