Insertion has never been an issue. I learned long ago how to do that without discomfort. I learned that my body can occasionally be fussy and uncooperative, and coercing it into submission is never useful or satisfying. Stoicism is a loathsome quality.
I started regular practice with the helix in April 2015. Practice sessions have been been easily integrated into my daily schedule, and have provided good reasons to abandon some less rewarding activities.
Much of the aneros new-user training material is devoted to breathing. The advice “keep breathing” is ubiquitous within the literature, and the word “relax” echoes endlessly. My first sessions were application of this advice.
Establishing and maintaining a comfortable deep-breathing cadence required more concentration and effort than I would have thought. I learned that I have a tendency to stop breathing while examining sensations. My mind presses a notional pause button to freeze the action and investigate. Some of my novel internal tingles at this first stage were partially attributable to mild hypoxia.
The second style of advice I found in the training material is that deliberate squeezing of muscles is not useful. My first tries with the MGX had obviously gone off the rails from the start, but I don't believe it was pointless. So long as the trainee understands that tensing muscles is not an orgasm cheatcode, the urge to flex should not be discouraged. Coarse movement is a necessary step in identifying separate muscles and refining their control.