“I do it for 20 minutes daily but i have observed that i get tired and my body feels choked with air and aches too”
As far as the bodily aching is concerned, if you are sitting, be certain not to sit with your body touching the Earth directly. When there is direct contact, it creates pressure upon the nerves of the body and blocks the blood circulation from flowing smoothly throughout one’s system. Eventually, over time, you may begin to feel aches, and those aches may eventually turn into numbness in certain parts of the body. To solve this - sit upon a cushion or something which will create a soft padding so that you are not creating pressure upon the nerves and other vessels of the body.
As far as pranayam is concerned - there are two factors which are often involved in feeling tired from the practice. The first is the excessive mental strain. If you are initiating too much effort of the mind, it creates mental tension which then becomes physical tension in the body. You may be initiating too much effort of the mind. Effort of the mind is needed, but it has to be balanced with a certain relaxation - otherwise the result is simply tiredness, feeling overexhausted, and in some cases - even anxiety and nervousness.
The other thing to consider is the ratio of your breathing, how long you perform each inhalation, breath retention, and exhalation. Do not work with a ratio which you are not yet prepared for. If you are to go deeper into the practice of pranayam - one has to gradually increase the capacity of the body to absorb prana. So one is to begin with a basic ratio - perhaps 4:4:4 (4 seconds inhalation, 4 seconds breath retention, 4 seconds exhalation) and continue practicing with this cycle until it becomes effortless. Then you can increase the ratio to absorb a greater quantity of prana - and in this manner - one progressively moves from one dimension to the next.
But regardless of the method of your practicing pranayam - what is far more essential is your inner atmosphere. If the practice is to become beneficial, then what is needed is a constant stream of mindfulness throughout the practice - with one’s attention absolutely absorbed in the present. Otherwise, the practice just becomes mechanical, artificial. Rather than functioning like a ladder towards more and more awareness - it becomes like a stairway towards an even deeper unconsciousness, reinforcing one’s programming which is already rigid enough as it is.
