BJJ, bullying and the seesaw

The psychoanalyst Maria Lacombe Pires has an interesting definition for bullying, an issue that afflicts parents and frightens children in schools around the world.

According to Ms. Pires, who is a specialist in children and adolescents, bullying works like a stuck seesaw.

Conflicts, teasing and bad jokes have always been and will continue to be part of the relationships between people — children or adults. The problem, however, is when there is no alternation of roles.

“Let’s think about a seesaw: in relationships in general, there are times when someone is up there, and there are times when someone is down when playing or teasing,” she wrote for the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. "In bullying, it's as if the seesaw stopped. And those who suffer bullying end up not finding a way to stop it, to take a stand."

That's the wonder of jiu-jitsu. Anyone who trains, from the little girl to the old man, quickly understands the value of a steady gaze, the need to take a stand against the coward, and to cut it at the root — since the fear to push back disappears in the first few training sessions.

And what about you? Have you ever been afraid to complain and get off the seesaw?

Listen to what Master Rickson Gracie has to say about jiu-jitsu as a point of rebalancing when it comes to bullying and child aggression.