9 mukhi and 6 mukhi question

[Guest guest]

Could someone please let me know why the 6 mukhi is meant to be worn

on the right arm and the 9 mukhi on the left arm?(i hope i got this

right. If it's the other way around forgive me i'm new to the world

of rudrakshas). If you have personal experiences with wearing either

of these beads on the "WRONG" arm, i would greatly appreciate the

information.

I'm interested in the rationale behind practices mentioned in the

shastras. (My focus and research is specifically in Ayurveda,

Vrkshayurveda and Pranayama. I wholeheatedly believe that there is a

lot of sense behind the practices but i like to make sense of them in

terms of modern terminology. Please note that by modern terminology i

don't necessarily mean reductionist terminology). For example the

injunctions prohibiting surya-bheda-kumbhaka in summer (that is

inhaling ONLY through the right nostril, retaining the breath and

exhaling ONLY through the left nostril) and chandra-bheda-kumbhaka in

winter(that is inhaling ONLY through the left nostril, retaining the

breath and exhaling ONLY through the right nostril) have been found

to make perfect sense (through research done at the Lonavla Yoga

Institute) as the former generates extreme heat in the body which you

would need if it was cold and vice versa for the latter.

I ask this because of a personal experience. I got my first

Rudraksham ( a beautiful deep reddish brown panchamukhi) about 4

months ago from a traditional Ayurvedic eye hospital in rural Kerala.

I also bought a Tulsi mala as i like the Tulsi beads very much and

after returning to the states strung 108 Tulsi beads and the

Rudraksham as the "Meru" on copper wire because i thought it looked

beautiful and i felt guided by some inner impulse to do so. While

wearing this mala, I've had very mixed experiences. Some nights i

would experience a deep sense of rest and sleep fitfully and other

nights i would be up all night and feel very agitated. This wasn't as

pronounced during the day but i could certainly "feel" it at night.

This mala has also broken several times so i don't wear it anymore

but i have laid it to rest in the puja altar. This made me wonder if

it had anything to do with combining Tulsi and Rudraksha beads

together. Anybody have any experience with a combination

Tulsi/Rudraksham mala?

Thanks in advance to your input.

Best wishes

Suraj