Feeling fine at heart -- before instruction (9)
I believe the answer is:
intuition
'feeling' is the definition.
(intuition is a kind of feeling)
'fine at heart before instruction' is the wordplay.
'at heart' indicates the central letters.
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'instruction' becomes 'tuition' (tuition is a kind of instruction**).
The middle of 'fine' is 'in'.
'in'+'tuition'='INTUITION'
(Other definitions for intuition that I've seen before include "Hunch" , "Sixth sense" , "Suspicion" , "Innate understanding" , "Unconscious understanding" .)