STEP 1: we learn how to ride a unicycle
Goal: sit on the unicycle while standing still, leaning against the wall and learn to overcome fear that makes us put our feet down (like on the bike, when we feel you are falling).
Use the wall as a back support, place the unicycle with the wheel leaning against the wall in an orthogonal position (90°) and the cranks parallel to the ground. If you move the unicycle away from the wall and return to the starting position without raising the wheel from the ground, the cranks return to the initial position. Move the unicycle away from the wall, just enough to get you between the wall and the unicycle. Take care to stay with your shoulders against the wall and get on the unicycle. If everything is done correctly in this position you should have one pedal up and one down. I recommend keeping the pedal of the dominant foot behind but it is not essential.
At this point, if you pull the pedal towards yourself, the unicycle should act as an elevator and lift you up, don't put the other foot on the pedal right away and don't lean forward. With the wheel steady between the wall and your foot, that pushes it back, you are in fact sitting on a one-legged stool ... nothing difficult.
Keeping balance: I always give the example of the difference between keeping a pencil or a string balanced on the palm of the hand.
It is impossible for the string to be in a straight position and so it will be for the unicyclist.
If there is no tension in his posture he will appear "soft" like a string. Therefore, if you want to learn put yourself straight as a pencil :) and make your balance muscle, abdominals and also your glutes, work.
At this point you are sitting on the unicycle with your back leaning, better said adhering, against the wall and your leg pushing back on the wheel, that is your life insurance :).
Now, the first thing you have to do is to get into the correct posture. You push your pelvis forward by slightly pulling the saddle away from the wall. Your hands at this point should be with your arms open at 45° and your palm facing the wall. You apply strength to your hands and, staying on axis, also pull your shoulders off the wall ...
It is forbidden to take the hands away from the wall! (in step 1 they will never come off).
Now all you need now to do is to move forward with the wheel 1cm, so that you are leaning against the wall only with your fingertips.
In this position you should try to stay with your torso in a straight position and gradually decrease the tension in your legs.
Especially at the beginning, sitting with half-flexed but contracted legs requires quite significant effort. This is why at this stage we insert a new movement: namely, "dismounting from the unicycle”, which allows us to begin to familiarize ourselves with a first new " automatism."
When the learner wants to get off the unicycle, he must start by slowly pushing his shoulders forward while making force on his hands.
He should NOT bend his torso forward but only unbalance himself forward. This will then also help to start riding, however in PHASE 1 the feet must remain stationary and you must overcome, for a split second, the impulse (or instinct) to take your feet off the pedals.
In short, you unbalance yourself forward and follow your self-preservation instincts only after holding it back as much as possible (it’s forbidden to fall down with your face).
In this way you begin to get used to shifting your weight forward before dismounting or falling.
The resulting dismount is not elegant and you have to let the unicycle fall to the ground while trying not to stumble over it.
However, if you try to take your feet off too early, you soon find that the unicycle squirts forward and the risk of falling back is very high ... Then if a learner puts down only one foot (like with the bike) ... the fall back is guaranteed.
If one learns as a first step to unbalance forward and descend/fall forward, the risk of dangerous falls is reduced to practically zero.
To acquire this automatism, you need to repeat the exercise several times.
I usually ask to perform a few sets of 10, and I want to see the beginners perform this exercise fluently and naturally, before continuing with the initial pedaling assisted exercises.
Sometimes the beginner makes a mistake and jumps forward with the wheel leaning against the wall, in this way the feeling is different and this does not help our purpose much.
Consider that automatisms are memorized by the body only if you perform them with calmness and a sense of security, in short feeling comfortable is a fundamental feeling for learning.
Try it yourself ... the first few times getting off the unicycle is somehow scary .... but then you realize that it is really simple and very safe.
Of course, there is also the whole part of analyzing the different types of learners and typical mistakes that are made .... but here there would be a treatise to be written .... who knows sooner or later we will write it :).