The Circle of Excellence is a basic self-anchoring process originally developed by Dr. John Grinder, co-creator of NLP. Circle of Excellence can be used to elicit, create and stabilise desired states. The Circle of Excellence uses a kinaesthetic anchor to activate a moment of excellence, i.e. a moment in which you are at the top of a high state, in which you feel like superman/woman.

It is a way to gain control over our emotional states.

The Process:

• Decide on a resource state. Choose a resourceful state you want to experience more often.

• Imagine a circle on the floor in front of you, big enough to step into. If you like, you can even mark it out in some way.

• Take a moment to relax, clear your mind and breathe deeply.

• Elicit a strong resource state of your choosing and intensify it. Stand, breathe as if you had that state intensely – feel the sensations.

• Project those intense feelings into the circle in front of you.

• What color, texture, qualities and size symbolize this state? What sounds and feelings come from the circle. Maybe there are tastes and smells.

• Step into the circle when the feelings are at their peak. Intensify them even more. Feel that powerful emotion surrounding you and flowing through your body. Breathe in the feeling. Enjoy it fully and completely.

• Anchor with some natural gesture that seems related to the state – a word or phrase, a facial expression, some aspect of physiology.

• Before the intensity fades, step back out and shake out the feelings (return to a neutral state)

• Repeat the steps with an additional resource state (or the same state). The circle becomes more and more powerfully resourceful.

• How does having this resource affect all aspects of your life (or a particular context)? Notice how different your perspective is, how the feeling changes the way you go about things.