Just as bodymind management can be developed to result in efficiency in combat, it can also be imagined as an art form which applies themes learned in the training process to many areas of daily life. This is the distinction between the Japanese suffixes -jutsu (jujustsu, aikijutsu) and -do (judo, aikido). The first is traditionally more utilitarian, in this case oriented toward victory in battle, whereas the second is practiced for its own sake, as a way/path/process (do) that includes ongoing discovery of the relationship between the practical and intangible realities of life beyond the battlefield. Obviously, the distinction is inexact as a -jutsu can be practiced to reveal process-oriented themes and a -do can be reduced to efficiency and martial effectiveness without practicing its relational extensions.

Many aikido practitioneers, among the over one million people around the world studying the art today, believe that the future of aikido must include a fundamental contribution to peace practices. The more these people shape their desire into specific opportunities to train in peace practices, the more likely it will be that human beings come to expect that daily life will include some discipline by which everyone learns to do conflict well.