My personal view is that you only really have a feel for an aircraft when you have flown it at the edge of its envelope. For example, you only know how hard you can turn by having previously carried out a max rate turn, and noticed the point at which the aircraft starts to stall. Aerobatics are another example. It is easy to overcook say, a loop by pulling too hard and g-stalling, but if you have practiced, you can pull just hard enough to get the most out of the aircraft, but not stall.
I feel the same way about spinning. I learnt to fly with the military, and certainly in their basic training, currency for spinning is one month - you must spin every month to be allowed to do aeros solo. This approach means that spinning and spin recovery becomes a non-event, and as my instructor said a 'drill, not a skill' - i.e. it should be second nature, and not require thought. Regular spinning like this means that you are far more likely to recognise the spin before it becomes fully developed, and be able to recover more quickly. I have only been in an unintentional spin once solo, and I had recovered it before I had really thought about what had happened. There was no question of freezing on the controls - not a reflection of my brilliance, but more of my training. This is how it should be.
For spinning to be painless, and not too scarey, it should be carried out to a formula - above a certain height, for at least 2 or three turns, with full pro spin controls (any less than that and you may go high-rotational, which is not fun). The spin and incipient spin should be practiced separately - ie. recover at first sign of autorotation, for the incipient, and allow 3 turns for the full.
It is a shame that spinning is so legendary, and is the subject of so many bar stories. It really isn't that bad, provided you know what to do. I think any serious pilot ought to go on a couple of spinning and aeros trips in an aerobatic aircraft, with an aerobatic instructor, so that they can easily recognise a spin, and then recover automatically. While not everybody would choose to go spinning every day for the fun of it (I certainly wouldn't), I think pilots should have an appreciation of how to deal with them.
Samson