Before You Die: Take a Real Russian Banya by Rose Baring

Take a real Russian banya. Find a remote wooden bath-house in a clearing in the forest, in winter. Take a bottle of vodka (as good as you can afford) and a bunch of dried birch twigs or veniki. Settle into the fug of the steam room for as long as you can, sloshing the water over you and washing meticulously. Encourage the pores to open by thwacking your skin with the water-softened twigs. Now take a deep breath and go out and roll in the snow! When you have done this a few times, get dressed at leisure and down the vodka.