Find your favorite yogi: How to choose a yoga instructor

September is a time when many start to re-evaluate their fitness routines. The leaves on the trees start their decent in the warm tones of red, orange, yellow and brown and the air feels different--not just cooler. Heading outdoors for a workout may no longer be an option depending on your cold temperature tolerance.

September also happens to be National Yoga Month. And just as yoga is an outdoor activity for some during the warmer months, there is a plethora of studios and classes to choose from as you head indoors. These tips will help you find your yoga instruction Zen.

Just as you'd do your homework when buying any product or service, you should use the same diligence and game plan when looking for a yoga instructor. Argie Tang, a New York-based yoga teacher for more than 30 years and creator of Pulse Yoga, suggests that you seek out a registered yoga teacher through Yoga Alliance, as well as someone who knows anatomy and biomechanics.

After that, find someone you are comfortable with. "There's some hands-on adjusting that I think some people may find unusual," Julie Kleinman, the director of programming of YogaWorks, a national yoga studio chain, warns. "The teacher may come around and actually touch you and move your body in a certain way."

Lastly, look for a smaller class. "It's hard for a teacher to give individual attention in some of these big classes that have 30-40 people. As you're starting, it's better to find a class in which you can get some attention, especially if you're dealing with some sort of previous injury," Tang says.

Before your first class

• Go to the "Intro to Yoga" program that most studios offer. This special class teaches new students how to do the poses accurately from the beginning. "It's basically teaching you yoga from the ground up, usually in four sessions," Kleinman says. "It's really important to learn the poses so you can do them correctly; then you can take them into the context of the harder and faster in a way that's safe. If you jump into a class before you know what you're doing, you can hurt yourself."
• Arrive early so you can talk with the teacher prior to class. "That way, she'll know a little bit about your exercise history, and whatever injuries and health issues you might want to call to her attention," Tang says.
• Remember: Yoga isn't a contest. Don't bring your competitive alter-ego to the studio. "All our bodies are different, and we all have skeletal differences that will or won't allow us to do certain postures in certain ways," Tang says. "I think that it's a loss in a yoga class when that competitive influence comes in and people want to do the postures exactly like one another. You may never do it that way, but it doesn't mean that you're not getting the benefits." Once you make yoga some sort of competition, you're no longer focusing inward and heightening your awareness of your body. Instead, breathe, stretch, relax and above all have fun.