I live a couple of miles from the Jurassic coast, which features some of the most spectacular beaches in the UK, and from about the beginning of June to the end of September I go wild swimming. I really love doing this — it’s peaceful, invigorating and spiritual — you really feel that you are part of creation when you’re immersed in it.

One of my favourite places to do this is Durdle Door (see pic). I once heard someone describe this place as a cathedral for outdoor swimmers to worship at. Breaststroking through the opening in rock with the sea rushing around you (it’s nearly always a bit choppy there) is an incredible experience.

Bathing is an important purification technique, according to Georg Feuerstein, in The Deeper Dimension of Yoga. He quotes the Brihad-Yogi-Yajnavalkya, a medieval text which states that daily ritual bathing is “best done in the early morning in a river connected to the ocean or in the ocean itself.” Hot water, he adds, is said to be useless.

“Bathing produces mental calm, removes negative emotions, and increases a person’s well-being, vitality, and beauty,” according to Feuerstein. Unfortunately, it’s just too cold for me in this part of world for most of the year.