The 5 Circles paradigm is the definition of Mindfulness. Mindfulness is presence of mind. The 5 Circles going up is loss of mindfulness (panic). 

The 5 Circles coming down is gaining mindfulness (learning). 

When you're fully "here," in the 1st Circle, you're at your best. 

Everyone knows that when we're present, we're at our best. We know we enjoy ourselves when we're present: we feel calm, safe, and open. When we're present, we respond in a way that represents us well. 

We know we should be present all the time...or at least more often! But we're often in such a hurry that we step being present. 

Presence vs. absence

Mindfulness vs. panic

Degrees of absence are daydreaming, distraction, fearfulness, and panic. In each of these states, there's an altered level of self-control compared to mindfulness. 

Learning is the process of gaining control over—increasing your presence to— information, movement, or behavior.  

At the beginning of learning something, there is no presence to the new information. You hear about a topic but you have no ownership of it at all. That's the leftmost (red) circle in the diagram above. 

As your presence increases, you gain control. You, as a spirit, descend into your body for presence to the information, so that you're in control of it. When you're fully present for it, you've learned it; that's the rightmost (blue) circle in the diagram above. "I've got it down."

To guarantee learning, you simply need to stay present until you need to take a break, then rest, then practice presence again. This is what 5 Circles Mindfulness is about. It removes panic. It virtually guarantees learning. 

As a human being, you descend into your body as the non-physical being you are. We call your non-physical aspect, "self, spirit, consciousness, you." It's your awareness, your consciousness. 

Imagine a world where all teachers saw presence as the number 1 goal of teaching! You'd learn anything you set out to learn—just as a baby learns to walk and talk. 

Learning is a process of going from the red circle to the blue.

Panic is the reverse process, going from the blue circle to the red. 

Once you know this and you know what the stages are, you're on the road to learning and preventing panic.