WHAT SECRET PRACTICES DID THE MINISTER ENGAGE IN AS A RESULT OF THE IMMORAL TROUBLES THAT BESET HIM?

Dimmesdale frequently clutces his hand over his heart.

He practices long vigils as well as prayer and fasting.

He climbs the scaffold where he feels he should have been shamed and punished.

He also scourges himself with a whip, a kind of self-flagellation for his sins.