Paul Poncy started LOTUS in about 1993 under Ajarn Jeremy Lewis, at the urging of his nephew who had taken several kid's classes over the years, and who had begun the adult class.

Paul was promoted to black belt in December of 1998 by Ajarn Jeremy Lewis and Ajarn Tim Hollembaek.  After  a little over 6 years of assisting in teaching adult's, children's, and women's self defense, Paul was promoted to 2nd degree in 2005.

Paul's personal emphasis tends to be toward teaching the use of LOTUS techniques in ground fighting, and how to effectively use ground techniques with LOTUS.