Improving our play necessarily involves the acquisition and understanding of new techniques, sequences and shapes, along with the eradication of bad habits. Few would dispute this. But my strong belief is that many think that these matters are all that is needed. I hope to convince you that an understanding and response to psychological matters are also required.

The technical side and the emotional sides can be seen as a form of yin and yang. Working on just one of these will likely undermine your progress since balance of both is required to play optimally. And what esoterica does this psychological aspect offer? Is it not some fanciful thing that has little bearing on the careful selection of moves by logic and understanding?

Some who ask such a question may be endowed with a good psychological nature for playing the game, an inherent aptitude where the absorption of the technical side of the game is relatively easy and efficient. But for many kyu level players, they can find the rise to shodan elusive because of psychological impediments that they are partly or largely unaware of. They do not sense the nature of the blocks to their development.