mastermeindl

I had another thought about this. If you look at the way of dealing with bullying (the behaviors and way of thinking and feeling) from "Aiki" perspective, you'll see that you're not fighting or even resisting the bullying at all. You're also not angered or hurt by it. You allow the person to go in the direction she wants to go.

It's like, "Oh, you want to go that way? OK. That's fine with me. Please, by all means, proceed. I'm not going to stand in your way. I'll get out of the way. In fact, let me help you go that way." Suddenly, both her attack and her motivation are diffused.

Another way of looking at is, if, for example, she shoves you, you could express verbally, through body-language, etc. that she wins and you yield. Sort of like "tapping out." Even the most hard-core MMA fighters (except for sociopaths) would not respect (and would even despise) another fighter who continued to attack an opponent after he had tapped out.

Your attacker's motive was probably dominance and status. When you show her and everyone else that you don't need dominance or status and that you're OK with her having it, the opposite appears true for her. She appears to need dominance and status (because she clearly does need dominance and status). Ironically, in the eyes of her peers this makes her appear to be the weak one and you the strong.