Founding Members

Global Balance Foundation is the initiative of three acupuncturists who, having witnessed the transformative power of Balance Method acupuncture in their own patients, decided to bring their skill and care to those in need through humanitarian action.

Delphine Armand – President – Growing up in Niger and Chad, Delphine was exposed from a young age to different cultures and living conditions, setting the foundation for a life defined by intellectual curiosity and compassion. While completing a degree in veterinary medicine, Delphine was drawn towards the energetic healing approach offered by Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her studies in this field eventually led her to cross paths with the acupuncture Master, Dr. Richard Teh-Fu Tan, who would change her life.

Astonished by his charismatic and fun personality, and intrigued by the strange broken and unbroken lines he had drawn on her notebook, she decided to invest her entire savings to attend Dr. Tan’s next Balance Method class. Delphine was fascinated by the logic and efficacy of the Balance Method and devoted herself to its practice and international growth. She worked hand in hand with her Shifu (master) for a decade, as a live translator at his seminars and French translator of two of his books.

Her Shifu was an important influence in her life, imparting not only his acupuncture techniques but also his philosophy and wisdom. In acknowledgement of her debt to her Shifu for the time and patience he dedicated to her personal growth, Delphine works to share with others what she was fortunate enough to learn.

Delphine believes that knowledge, like wealth, should never be accumulated but shared and passed on to others, in the same way as a river flows. This philosophy informs her teaching as a Balance Method instructor as well as her humanitarian work.

Delphine practises the Balance Method exclusively in her acupuncture clinic in the south of France. She continues to spread the teachings of her Master internationally as a Si Yuan Balance Method instructor.

Lapy Long – Treasurer – In her native Cambodia, Lapy was surrounded by healing and meditation from a young age. Her father was a respected traditional healer and her grandfather was a community leader well-known for his Buddhist piety.

During the devastation of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Lapy and her mother emigrated to Switzerland, where she eventually studied business administration with the goal of participating in the economic revival of her native Cambodia. Upon her first visit to her homeland after her emigration, she was affected by the obvious need for basic infrastructure and set up a non-profit organization to distribute supplies and help improve living conditions in her native province.

Becoming increasingly interested in the healing arts, Lapy began studying Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, with the idea of being able to one day utilise this low-cost and effective therapy in humanitarian missions. The establishment of Global Balance Foundation is, for Lapy, the culmination of a lifelong desire to give back to her community while carrying on the healing spiritual traditions of her family in Cambodia.

Paul Wang – Secretary General – Paul’s first introduction to Chinese philosophy was as a practitioner of martial arts. One of the top practitioners of WingChun in the world, Paul learned through his daily practice how to observe and master the body’s energy.

Prior to initiating professional practice, Paul was a Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and an Undergraduate Research Apprentice in the Poly-PEDAL laboratory of Professor Robert J. Full. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Integrative Biology with an emphasis in Physiology and Biomechanics from the University of California at Berkeley. He also pursued minor studies in Classical Chinese and East Asian Philosophy, especially Daoism.
While completing graduate studies in Chinese medicine, Paul met the man who would become his his acupuncture mentor, Dr. Richard Teh-Fu Tan. Paul was so immediately and deeply affected by a resonance with Dr. Tan’s teachings that he instinctively bowed and asked to become his disciple on the spot, initiating a decade-long mentorship.

For more than a decade, Paul Wang honed his skills in the Balance Method as a California Licensed Acupuncturist practicing in a high-volume community acupuncture setting. He also completed training and certification in his Shifu’s Ba Zi course.

Paul continues to teach his Shifu’s method as a Balance Method instructor. As an avid martial artist, qi cultivator, and long-term meditator, he integrates these lineages into a full expression of Chinese medicine.