Thank you for this feedback! Tremendously valuable.
There is no path of platforms. They are generated at random each time. There is some meaning to the center platforms in the middle of the Helix, though. I've considered developing several predefined patterns of platforms that might give it more of a puzzler feel to it, albeit with the zen, meditative, feel. That was beyond the scope of what I could do for the jam, however.
A checkpoint is a very good idea, and you're right about missing a platform. This is supposed to be a meditative experience, but somehow it still kicks you into a goal-oriented mode. You're not supposed to care, you're just supposed to get into a state of flow, where you are bouncing from one platform to the next. Perhaps once you reach the level of the next Helix up, you can always restart at that platform rather than the one at the beginning...
Did you notice that the "bounciness" of the platforms increases as you get away from the center of the Helix? That can be very helpful in getting higher. You can still get kind of stuck, but it should pretty much always be possible to net height by taking a little bit of risk, and venturing farther out.