The Wrong Leg — And It Still Worked

Estimated reading time ⏱: 1 - 2 minutes

Last updated: July 2026

I was sure I’d let her down. I’d needled the wrong side, caught it too late, and spent the rest of that session braced for a wasted afternoon. And then she came back the next week, better. And honestly? The mistake I dreaded became the one that taught me the most.

The needle was already in when I saw it.

Wrong leg.

It was one of my first months in practice. A one-sided complaint — the kind where the side you choose is the whole point. It should have been the right leg. I’d gone to the left.

Say nothing. Just finish.

That was the voice that showed up first.

I sat there with my heart going while she rested, quietly running the math on how badly I’d wasted her afternoon.

Then she came back the next week. The pain was down. It had worked anyway.

And relief wasn’t the first thing I felt. Confusion was. I’d gotten a piece of it wrong, and the woman in front of me was better — and I didn’t have a clean story for that. I wanted one badly.

What almost stopped me that year wasn’t the mistake. It was the fear of making one.

When you work alone, there’s no one in the next room to catch you. Every choice is yours and only yours.

You carry the wins quietly and the mistakes loudly. And the pressure to look certain — to be the expert in the room — never really lets up.

I was so busy trying not to get it wrong that I forgot I was allowed to be someone who was still learning.

Nobody says this out loud: precision matters — and you still won’t have all of it on day one.

I learned the correct side. I needle it correctly now, and I’d never pretend precision is optional. It isn’t.

But precision is a skill you build over years, not a gate you pass or fail in your first month.

The method is patient with a beginner. The body meets you halfway. Both are more forgiving than the voice in your head.

So the next time you’re frozen over a choice — turning it over, sure the wrong move will expose you — try trading the question.

Not what if I get this wrong.

Instead: what will I understand if I do.

You can be still learning and still be good at this.

Both at once.

That was true of me that day. And it’s true of you.

What’s the mistake that taught you the most?

I’d honestly like to know. Drop me a message — in the comments below!

About the Authors: Laurence & Olivier

Laurence and Olivier are Balance Method practitioners based in Terneuzen, Netherlands. Both were trained directly by Dr. Delphine Armand — one of Dr. Tan's three appointed disciples and co-founder of Si Yuan. For 8 years, they were part of the Si Yuan team as instructor and video director. Practicing acupuncture since 2018, they treat up to 75 patients a week using exclusively the Balance Method at Acusana Acupunctuur.

• →Laurence was Dr. Delphine Armand's right hand at Si Yuan, teaching and assisting alongside her at international trainings. She developed the illustrated clinical notes used during these trainings — notes that became the Balance Method Notebook, now the go-to clinical reference for practitioners worldwide.
• →Olivier filmed, assisted, and edited the Si Yuan international trainings for 8 years — from live clinical demonstrations to the complete Video on Demand library. He founded this independent knowledge hub to make Balance Method education freely accessible to practitioners everywhere.

Together they created the Balance Method Notebook for Local and Global Balance, and the new Meridian Conversion specialization that takes practitioners beyond pathway treatment into function, Shen, and emotional disorders.

Through this platform, they continue to build on Dr. Tan's core philosophy: "Share everything, keep nothing, help everyone."