[box type=”note” style=”rounded”]If you came this way in may-time, it would be the same. – T.S. Elliot[/box]

The Formal bow-in is similar to the informal bow-in , with a little more oomph.

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]eiza is always the beginning.

Two Bows for Unity – the self and the work of the self

Four Claps to Invoke the World – often the Four Directions (NESW) or Heaven/Earth/Center/Life.

One Bow in Gratitude for What Has Gone Before. Sensei at this point will often pause to call in the memory and presence of O-Sensei, the founder of Aikido.

The rest is the same.