For some reason, when I go to spar with the handmaiden, she takes damage, but won't ever die.. Her bar will go all the way to the end and then it just stays there. I am unable to advance with her. The only way I get out the fight is to let her beat the crap out of me or use a weapon or force power so she yells at me about disrespecting the ritual.

I have heard of this problem with the PC version, which I thought was due to having a certain mod installed, but never heard of it with the Xbox.
I dunno what could be the problem, or the fix. Only thing you can try is reloading an earlier savegame I guess.

I recall some people at GameFAQs having the same problem, so it's not limited to PC. But still, as Drazin says, the best thing you can do is try it again.

I had this problem at the final tier. I had 2 hp and it wasnt going down.

What i did was use a force power and then she yelled at me. After several times of doing this, I left the Ebon Hawk and went out to the planet I was on (I think it was Nar Shadar - if it makes a difference) and then after finishing the planet or when I was next on the ship when i fought the guys who were hijacking the ship - the red sun slavers - or what ever their name is and then the Handmaden worked.

I had this same problem once, all I did was reload and talk to her again.