Dressage in draw reins & delightful canter

We had a great lesson using draw reins today.  I've been too timid to use them since October (?!?) when Duke acted up in them and I had to go down for an emergency lesson.  John asked why I needed them, whether he'd been stiff, and I said no, I just wanted to use them in a lesson again first because I was nervous about riding in them.  They go on from the inside to the outside (first neck to his neck, out of the bit and back to me), and then I ride with them on the outside of my pinkie with a knot in them.
John had me bring them (and the reins) up and up and up and up, and then Duke tensed up just a little bit, but as soon as I asked him to step through, he then moved like an angel pretty much the rest of the lesson.
We worked on 10 meter circles, leg yielding out, haunches in and then neck bent in.  John had me move my legs off set a little more than usual, and also had to caution me several times not to let my inside hand drop down.
Duke's canter felt great, so much better than the last few months, and probably it last felt this good after John had been riding him.  It was easier to sit and his back felt lifted, instead of like he was down and forward on the forehand.
Once during the lesson, I thought about what I should do, and then John said it, which is always a treat, like I'm actually learning to think and ride like him.
When Duke gave with his neck, I had to release with my hand to reward him.  Similarly when he got a little tense, a quick release and then take back let him let off steam and concentrate again.
He got pretty tired and sweaty, and it was a great ride, but I wish I could record the lessons and then watch them again (although really, it is the feeling them again that I need) because this was one where I had to rely heavily on John's instructions and I can't really type them out in words; he had me react as Duke moved, and move him to soften him and push him forward, and the whole thing was, well, a dance.  Not memorizing, but reacting.  This is why I'm struggling with this step so much, it is feelings and moment by moment, not, "sit up, put your heel down, look up".  So maybe that is progress, but I wonder if I will really get past this part or if this is where I max out.  It feels dreamy when John is telling me step by step, but I wonder how much of it I am really successfully repeating at home.  Then again, maybe being aware that this is the next layer is what I needed for the next eureka moment.
Anyway, it felt amazing.
John said that my saddle is tipping up onto his shoulders, and suggested I look at Voltaire.
We also looked at my conditioning schedule, and he said that it is too much; that Duke will be naturally more fit than Charlie, and he is already off my leg, and most of the work for Charlie was to get him moving forward.  He said if I did this schedule, Duke would be too fit and he'd end up being ridden by John.  He said Duke probably doesn't need any speed work.
Brooke was also there and suggested sitting tipping my pelvis forward, so it leads, which is kind of scooping my tail bone underneath.
Man, I wish I had a better vocabulary to describe all the movements we did today... it felt great.