In Memory of Jodie Werier

It was in the early 90’s when Jodie Werier and I met.

She came to the first Iyengar Yoga class I taught at the Douglas Park Community Centre. Energetic looking, with curly dark hair and shiny black eyes, Jodie struck me right away as being lively and engaging. She was enthusiastic about starting yoga, especially because she could dash over from her home, which was just a few minutes away.

Little did we know that we would see one another nearly every week for the next thirty five years, except when we were away from Vancouver. Jodie was committed to her yoga and always found a way to make it to class, despite a busy schedule. She practiced when all was well and she continued when life presented deep challenges.

Jodie was supportive of our class community. She liked to tease those around her and she was kind and fair when doing so. She supported The Yoga Space when we opened the first studio and again when we moved to our second address. She was ready to offer advice when approached, which I did on occasion. She was full of good and practical ideas.

A good communicator and fast to spot kindred spirits, Jodie made long lasting friends with a few of the people she met through yoga. Renee Miller was one of them. Renee and Jodie got to know one another better during a retreat I offered at a centre near Squamish. They were roommates there and together they enjoyed breaking the “retreat rules”, such as when there was going to be silence and when there was going to be coffee had. Jodie had a mischievous streak and I could always sense the rascally teenager in her, despite the serious way she handled her work and family responsibilities.

Over time Renee, Jodie and I developed a habit of going to a restaurant every few months. Our conversations were stimulating and fun. We did not solve the world’s problems, nor our own, but we shared what was going on and exchanged ideas, recommended movies and books and almost always shut the place down. We laughed a lot. Renee often brought her scrumptious home made baking for us, always enough for us share with those at home. We continued conversations via zoom during the covid years.

Jodie’s hair changed colour in her late fifties, as it happens, and then turned mostly a lovely silver by the time she died, on March 20th ‘ 26, at 69. Too suddenly. The brain tumour was removed, but she could not tolerate the treatment that followed.

For me her wavy hair matched her creative way of thinking and an authentic way of being in the world. Her stature was small and her presence strongly felt. Still clearly felt.

— Louie Ettling

“Louie Ettling has been practicing Iyengar yoga for the last few decades. She continues to share the generous gift of practice with others in the community”.

It was early evening when, shy and new to practice, waiting in the line of the building, leaning on the cold railing, quieting after work, I glanced up to notice a familiar face, also looking down toward the rain on her shoes. My eyes averted back to my own damp shoes as I placed the familiar in its new context. Judge Werier.

I paused, surprised, making adjustments in my mind as I continued to look down at my shoes, the recent rain. I had experience with her Honour in the courtroom, many times at 222 Main St. and in Downtown Community Court, as counsel for clients or mentoring law students, appearing for trials, bail hearings, sentencings or remand appearances, or in family case conferences or hearings but memorably, in a long and sensitive child-protection trial for an Indigenous infant and mother at Robson Square.

It was there that, for multiple days, in a lengthy series of linking stories, histories, emotions, and deeply held views and perspectives, Judge Werier sat. We called witnesses, presented testimony, cross-examined, entered exhibits, raised legal and legislative challenges, gave heartfelt argument, and final submissions. Judge Werier sat.

Along the way a sequence was unfolding. Adaptations were necessary. Timing was watched. Corrections made. Into a series of twists, turns, and transitions, we continued. There were days it seemed impossible, days more support was needed. There were moments where humour became a great comfort, a great connector. Her Honour let herself smile as, in a crucial turn, my client made a joke to find her courage.

Judge Werier presided with utter patience and attentiveness, even as the days were full of unexpected change, surprise jolts, undaunted love, messy truths, heartbreaking, grim, she sat with focus, with firm grace. There were pauses so quiet that you could hear your own breath. She did not rush.

So, seeing her Honour that evening in the yoga line-up, the overlap of contexts proved to be inspiration. We later acknowledged the case, having found our way through our respective professional ethics. We talked yoga. She teased me of “drinking the kool-aid” and I watched out of the corner of my eye as she stood in Sirsasana, eyes steady and calm. I wondered if I would ever know the same.

There was no disconnect here, here was the exact Judge who kept her ear, her eye tuned. My client, knowing how lucky we were, urged me to go see Judge Werier on an ordinary unrelated sitting day at Main St. months later and thank her. So we did, heading into her courtroom just as they stood down for a break. She smiled from the bench, nodding, off record. My client in tears, her young child in her care.

What a gift to our practice Judge Werier, Jodie Werier leaves for us. Her transition, too sudden and too soon, resonates, along with her sincerity, grace and humour.

— Sarah Rauch

“Sarah Rauch has been practicing Iyengar yoga for about ten years, happily learning, being curious about, and integrating her practice into other aspects of life. She has been practicing law for about 25 years from a small office in Vancouver, representing people throughout BC within a range of legal contexts”