Perhaps, however ... ??
OR -- it just means what he said ... ??
More seriously, one can certainly say that all one need do is train in aikido to get the spiritual point (O-Sensei said that, too). BUT, to say that there is no spirit involved in the process is something else altogether and is not consistent with the Founder's teaching, whether technical or spiritual. There is much spookier stuff going on in the Universe that reductionists would rather not be bothered with, that cannot be ignored and that we are not well prepared to comprehend.
Spirituality is non-locality. Consciousness is more than just here -- it is elsewhere also and all of a piece -- so much ancient wisdom tells. Consciousness, so far, despite brave attempts, does not admit of reduction to mechanism. Turing's machines exist only in the liviing minds that define their threshold criteria. If Roger Penrose is right, then they probably always will be.