Free will and awakening: listener question

I was listening to a video where a teacher was describing his understanding of "free will". The teacher was sharing that freedom comes from awareness. He went on to say that before awareness, we are programmed to operate from the conditioned mind. We are identified with it and in that state there is no free will. Once we begin to wake up, it appears we can choose not to operate from our conditioned mind or a thought but we can choose differently from presence, awareness. 

From what I've learned, choice is never in the hands of a separate me but rather action that happens that makes sense in the moment to a mind/body system. So is there "free will" (choice) and if so is that just another way to describe a sane mind? Less and less identification with thought, an idea of a separate me? 

The truth is that I get confused when teachers talk about you and choice when in our work, we say there is no doer and no choice. How can I sort that out so there is less confusion?