  We present a new method for constructing equilibrium phase models for stellar
systems, which we call the iterative method. It relies on constrained, or
guided evolution, so that the equilibrium solution has a number of desired
parameters and/or constraints. This method is very powerful, to a large extent
due to its simplicity. It can be used for mass distributions with an arbitrary
geometry and a large variety of kinematical constraints. We present several
examples illustrating it. Applications of this method include the creation of
initial conditions for N-body simulations and the modelling of galaxies from
their photometric and kinematic observations.
