The 100-Day Foundation

· A practice challenge for T'ai Chi students

Abstract

T’ai Chi is built at home, not in class. Most students know this and still struggle to practice, because progress is invisible day to day. The old teachers had an answer: every session adds something, whether you can see it or not. This paper gathers that teaching from Laozi, Xunzi, Wang Zongyue and Ninomiya Sontoku, then turns it into a simple 100-day challenge: pick a minimum you can do on your worst day, do it every day, and drop a stone in a jar after each session.

A practice paper for my students. Four pages, November 2026.

Contents

  1. You are always accumulating something. Why daily practice is hard when progress can’t be seen, and why it matters anyway.
  2. What the old teachers said. 積小為大, accumulate the small to make the great, traced through the Daodejing, Xunzi, the T’ai Chi classics and the hundred days to build the foundation (百日築基).
  3. The 100-day challenge. Five rules: pick your minimum, do it every day, give it your whole attention, keep the same time and place, and place a stone.
  4. What to expect. Momentum, the slump and the groove, with the 66-day habit research from University College London.
  5. When you miss a day. Never miss twice.
  6. Begin with one stone.

The goal isn’t to get better each day. The goal is to not break the chain.

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