Fertile Heart™OVUM Work aka I.B.O.W. Fertility Practice

The Fertile Heart OVUM Program is an original mind body program to be used as an independent healing modality or as an adjunct therapy to IVF, IUI’s, other Assisted Reproductive Technologies or holistic treatments such as fertility acupuncture. It is also a practice that has provided the sustenance and guidance for countless couples choosing to birth their families through adoption.

A Birthing Practice

Mind-body is a recognizable term, that’s why out in the world, I officially refer to the Fertile Heart OVUM  work, as a mind body program. But just between you and me, it’s really a birthing practice. It supports us in giving birth to healthier, stronger bodies, braver hearts, Visionary parents and of course, healthy robust babies.

As my high school Latin teacher used to say: “Nihil novis sub sole” (nothing new under the sun). Or as Mark Twain put it, “Adam was the only man who, when he came up with a good idea, knew that no one had said it before.”

There are ten thousand roads that lead to the same truth, seek expression through our insights, our actions, our lives. The underlying universal Truths of the I.B.O.W. practice might resemble any number of philosophies.

My contribution is in the particular manner they have unfolded for me. The Fertile Heart™ OVUM Practice is in many ways my third child, which was conceived and nurtured and has grown organically in the last 20 years into a profound, systematic healing modality with its own language and specific tools.

A name is born

When I first began to lead informal support groups in our apartment on the Upper West side of Manhattan, the grief, rage and sadness in the room was palpable. One day I started calling the abandoned parts of ourselves—mirrored in such feelings—our inner Orphans.

The Orphans: The Orphans are the aspects of our nature that call to be healed, the voices within us which, when ignored, attempt to get our attention through physical symptoms such as endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids.

The Ultimate Mom: As we began to use specific, carefully crafted imagery and other tools to work through the pain, and access the compassion within us, we were able to connect with another aspect of our nature. The unconditionally loving, wise voice which I eventually named the Ultimate Mom, the kind of mother no human mother can be.

Visionary: And the liaison between the Orphan and the Ultimate Mom, is the part of us that wants to grow and learn, and build a fulfilling, meaningful life. It’s a seed of the Visionary Parent we are birthing through this practice.  The grounded human parent who can attend to the Orphans that show up and keep tuning into the guidance of the Ultimate Mother. The Visionary who can conceive a life-affirming action and follow through on that action. For many years I called that voice, the Student. I was never quite happy with that title, and one night a much more fitting term came: Visionary. To my amazement, when I combined the first letter of each of these words, they formed OVUM, meaning ‘egg’ in Latin.

And that’s how my work got its first name: The Fertile Heart™ OVUM Birthing Practice.

And later, years later, wanting to acknowledge my husband’s immense contribution, I started calling it the Indichova-Baum-Ovum-Work,. I.B.O.W.   

I couldn’t have asked for more perfect acronyms.

After all, the one prerequisite for any healthy creation is at least one good egg. Conception begins with engaging in a life-long relationship with our inner Orphans, our Visionaries and our infinitely fertile and knowing Ultimate Mother.

Bowing doesn’t mean giving up

And I.B.O.W.? Another perfect name for a practice that begins with bowing to what is, bowing to the wisdom of our bodies and the Mystery that orchestrated our own coming into the world.

Currently, the most thorough experiential introduction of I.B.O.W. are the Meeting Your Child Halfway Video Series, the Meeting Your Child Halfway Zoom Workshop and the Fertile Heart Visionaries Sessions. (check the Events page for the  schedule ).

The Body Truth CD and the Fertile Heart™ Imagery 2 CD also offer an explanation discussion of the OVUM concept.

You may also want to take a look at the guidance on our Starting the Fertile Heart (I.B.O.W.) Program.

Adapted from the 2012 revised edition of The Fertile Female, now available for download on Amazon Kindle. All rights reserved.