who chit

Why are you interested in practicing Kriya? This should be addressed first. If it is for siddhis or experiences or to be more "special" than others then you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Most likely, if it doesn't give you what you want ,you'll quit anyway. Experiences won't last forever,they come and go, and you'll just end up where you are now. Kriya is a spiritual practice to help you realize what you and reality,truly are.That is it's purpose. Be careful not to treat it as some new toy or hobby for the ego to play with and throw away when it get's bored or feels it's not getting what it wants.

I would suggest cutting back on the 30-40 minute concentration, to around 20 min. There is such a thing as energetic overload,and having never engaged in energy practices,you're waking up a powerful energy that needs to be respected. I did the same thing when I first began doing Kriya 2 years ago. You get these powerful experiences and it is quite amazing what this energy is capable of. But if it's not respected it will lead to some pretty severe physical and mental symptoms like moderate to severe headaches,nausea,mood fluctuations,insomnia,"head pressure" which is hard to describe,but suffice it to say,it's not something you'll want to have to deal with,rises in body temperature which can feel like an inner sunburn. If you start to experience any of these or other uncommon negative symptoms,cut back on the number of practices,and/or, their duration, until you stabilize again. I haven't looked at the book,but if you're doing kumbhaka (breath retention) and bandhas(body locks),these are really powerful kundalini stimulators and should be used with care. Pace yourself,don't overdue the practices,and they will benefit your life in wonderful ways.

"Faster" will be determined by how dedicated and determined you are to want to realize Truth. For me it was do or die,nothing less. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Kriya and meditation go hand in hand,but if you have to choose one over the other, proper meditation would be the practice to go with. Besides stimulating the kundalini, Kriya silences and prepares the mind for meditation. Kriya without meditating afterward can also cause an imbalance in the energy (kundalini),producing unwanted symptoms of energetic overload. Not fun. So,to answer your question,doing both is the "fast track" to awakening. After a few months of steady,daily practice, start throwing in some self inquiry, and well...strap in cause it's just a matter of time.

Consciousness is always conscious and never unconscious. Pure, objectless,formless consciousness,the One reality,is all there is. The beginning of ignorance or unconsciousness,is when we mistakenly believe we are the objective "personal I" thought/idea, and forget our true original nature. The "I" thought is the first most subtle object of perception to appear in consciousness,and from which all other thoughts and objects of perception manifest. Consciousness is conscious. There is no "I" that is conscious. Proper Self inquiry leads to this realization. "I" is a thought appearing in, and perceived by, the pure reality that is prior to all manifestation. Who/what is conscious? The mind thought, "I am", may arise. To which you question "who/what am I". The I thought will disappear,proving it to be an illusion. Thus revealing the one pure reality..Consciousness, that is prior to "I-ness",objects or otherness. Nothing exists without the knowing of it,therefore consciousness is the knower and known. Not 2 but One. It's the same thing when J.Krishnamurti said "the observer is the observed".