I'm on day 5 of the cleansing diet. Yogananda's new book on Health says to take an epsom salt bath every night - 2 lbs! Is this right?
Also, are bean sprouts allowed in the salad?
Thank you
—Glenda Anderson, usa
Dear Glenda,
Congratulations on your doing Yogananda’s Cleansing Diet! Yes, his instructions do say 2 pounds of “good bath salts.” However, when we offer the Cleansing Diet program here at the Expanding Light, we suggest that people use at least 2 cups. This is less than 2 pounds, but it does seem to be enough for most people to feel the cleansing effect. Two pounds a night can be fairly expensive, but if you wanted to follow his instructions to the letter, then that is what he said.
In terms of what is “allowed” in the raw vegetable salad, that is up to debate, since Yogananda did not specify which vegetables were OK. I’d suggest that you use your intuition, inwardly ask Yogananda if this is OK, and feel his response in your heart. Or, you can simply decide to make a common sense decision as to which vegetables are appropriate for you. Or, another way to decide would be so ask yourself, would having sprouts on my salad make me more likely to be able to complete the 9-day diet? If the answer is yes, then I’d suggest that you go ahead and have them. My sense is that following the spirit of the diet is more important than getting too caught up in such details. Perhaps Yogananda intentionally left these instructions vague so that we could try to develop our intuition and tune into his wisdom individually.
Try to stay focused on drawing the vitality from the food – bless it and ask it to purify your body cells, chew it thoroughly, and savor the tastes. Know that you are doing a very good and healthy thing for your cells and your body systems in following this cleansing diet.
Blessings to you!
