diff --git a/apicast/src/executor.lua b/apicast/src/executor.lua
index 300ca6ad9..e3c6540d3 100644
--- a/apicast/src/executor.lua
+++ b/apicast/src/executor.lua
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ local _M = { }
 local mt = { __index = _M }
 
 -- forward all policy methods to the policy chain
-for _,phase in policy:phases() do
+for _,phase in policy.phases() do
     _M[phase] = function(self, ...)
         return self.policy_chain[phase](self.policy_chain, self:context(phase), ...)
     end
diff --git a/apicast/src/policy.lua b/apicast/src/policy.lua
index a9d43e7cb..2b2ff3799 100644
--- a/apicast/src/policy.lua
+++ b/apicast/src/policy.lua
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-local _M = {
-    PHASES = {
-        'init', 'init_worker',
-        'rewrite', 'access', 'balancer',
-        'header_filter', 'body_filter',
-        'post_action',  'log'
-    }
+local _M = { }
+
+local PHASES = {
+    'init', 'init_worker',
+    'rewrite', 'access', 'balancer',
+    'header_filter', 'body_filter',
+    'post_action',  'log'
 }
 
 local setmetatable = setmetatable
@@ -28,15 +28,15 @@ function _M.new(name, version)
         return setmetatable({}, mt)
     end
 
-    for _, phase in _M:phases() do
+    for _, phase in _M.phases() do
         policy[phase] = noop
     end
 
     return policy
 end
 
-function _M:phases()
-    return ipairs(self.PHASES)
+function _M.phases()
+    return ipairs(PHASES)
 end
 
 return _M
diff --git a/apicast/src/policy/local_chain.lua b/apicast/src/policy/local_chain.lua
index 17ebd54b0..9c38cae22 100644
--- a/apicast/src/policy/local_chain.lua
+++ b/apicast/src/policy/local_chain.lua
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ local function build_chain(context)
 end
 
 -- forward all policy methods to the policy chain
-for _, phase in policy:phases() do
+for _, phase in policy.phases() do
   _M[phase] = function(_, context, ...)
     local policy_chain = find_policy_chain(context)
 
diff --git a/apicast/src/policy/phase_logger.lua b/apicast/src/policy/phase_logger.lua
index c99901fbe..e12c0cd8b 100644
--- a/apicast/src/policy/phase_logger.lua
+++ b/apicast/src/policy/phase_logger.lua
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 local policy = require('policy')
 local _M = policy.new('Phase logger')
 
-for _, phase in policy:phases() do
+for _, phase in policy.phases() do
   _M[phase] = function() ngx.log(ngx.DEBUG, 'running phase: ', phase) end
 end
 
diff --git a/apicast/src/policy_chain.lua b/apicast/src/policy_chain.lua
index 4df203447..71cb1f0d8 100644
--- a/apicast/src/policy_chain.lua
+++ b/apicast/src/policy_chain.lua
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ local function call_chain(phase_name)
     end
 end
 
-for _,phase in policy:phases() do
+for _,phase in policy.phases() do
     _M[phase] = call_chain(phase)
 end
 
diff --git a/spec/policy_spec.lua b/spec/policy_spec.lua
index b8e0a8bc1..cdabc4719 100644
--- a/spec/policy_spec.lua
+++ b/spec/policy_spec.lua
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ describe('policy', function()
     it('defines a method for each of the nginx phases; they do nothing by default', function()
       local my_policy = policy.new('custom_authorizer')
 
-      for _, phase in policy:phases() do
+      for _, phase in policy.phases() do
         -- To be precise, we should check that the function is defined, returns
         -- nil, and it does not have any side-effects. Checking the latter is
         -- complicated so we'll leave it for now.
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ describe('policy', function()
   describe('.phases', function()
     it('returns the nginx phases where policies can run, sorted by order of execution', function()
       local res = {}
-      for _, phase in policy:phases() do
+      for _, phase in policy.phases() do
         table.insert(res, phase)
       end