One the other thread, the subject of rolling and breakfalls came up. I think is a good idea to cover sound grounds with this subject. Here are some thoughts that I would like to share.
First off, I learned breakfall method from GM Chiu and then was shown another method similar to rolling in the Japanese art by Tainan. I have seen but not expirement with the Shaui Chiao rolling/breakfall. All of these involve 2 common concept. 1) the head must tug in tight and looking towards the belt. 2) the body follows the momentum of the throw or takedown and no limbs would be used in the attempt of stopping the fall at the initial phase. At the final phase of the fall, the landing, is where these techniques differ most. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. That’s where the stylist differences and how the styles function are found IMHO.
Rolling to me is to follow the momentum of the fall and using the largest muscle group available (ie the shoulder/lats, thigh, etc) to absorb the fall. The body has a certain “roundness” (kind of like a ball) to it. This way it is relatively easier on the body. Slapping of the hand is meant to prevent the over rolling into a less favorable position. However, most people view the slapping for “breaking the fall” which technically is true but I would discern it from breakfalls. Personally, I feel that rolling serves a much more important role in counter fighting a grappling situation. I would compare it to boxing being a counter fighting art develops bobbing, ducking, waving, etc… for staying in range to launch counter offensives. Rolling, if use adeptly, can turn an inferior position into a superior position. Rolling can be used aggressively or defensively. The problem of rolling is that it is more prone to a follow up ground grappling attack because of the mechanics. So learning how to deal with ground grappling at least know enough not to get mounted and to get back on the feet safely and swiftly is important if adopting rolling as the principle method of falling in Mantis. Note that I discern it from breakfall. So rolling can be viewed as stopping/breaking the fall (passive) or rolling attack/counter attack (proactive).
Breakfall is more traditional in Kung Fu. It spreads the impact throughout the body which assume a fetal postion with one hand and one foot extended out parallel to each other. The head is cushioned by the bicep of the extended arm if the fall is a hard one. Imagine the decaying posture of dinosaur except that your back is curl like the belly of the dinosaur. This way is harder on the body especially on a hard service. The whole body would feel the sensation literally from head to toe. Depending on the strength of the fall, breakfall allows an immediate kip up or tornado kick type of getting up or get away measure. It is more dynamic. But conditioning of the exponent is key. This also breaks up the engage. There is a forward flip with the foot breakfall as mentioned by Tainan. It is a rather hard breakfall. We don’t normally training it. I have seen it done by advance students of GM Chiu but since very few occassion that I could think of to apply such a breakfall, I don’t train it anymore. But for conditioning, it is a great thing to keep the kids busy for awhile. 
Shaui Chiao uses both rolling and falling IMHO. It depends on whether it is a throw (higher altitude) or a takedown (lower altitude). The fists covering the ear is good for strengthing the protection of the head. This would make sense for SC since quite a few of the falls are forceful and would cause the head even tugged in tight to shift out of control. For me, I am not comfortable with it because all the limbs are out of commission temperorily at least. So it would hinder the change of a counter offensive. Also it seems rather hard to resist not to use the elbow for help to stop the rolling effect in the beginning which means a higher chance of elbow injuries. Since the SC people have done it. I am sure it is just my being overly concern.
Just a few thoughts
Mantis108
